On the concepts of “legal work” and “legal means”

Abstract

The article is focused on the analysis of the “legal work” and “legal means” concepts characterizing professional activities of lawyers. Universal definitions of these concepts are formulated. It is proposed to understand legal work as the activity for creation and use of legal means, where the legal means is understood as the product of the mentioned activity: (1) a material or digital object — a document, or (2) an act, both used as a means for further activities targeted at a certain legal result. We substantiate the conclusion that the legal result of using the legal means is an intermediate output in relation to the planned final result (economic, social, political, etc.). Therefore, effective legal work engages legal means in such a way that the legal result they help to achieve is optimal for achieving the planned final economic, social and other results. Defined are the persons being the subjects of legal work and performing certain activities as a part of legal work in commercial organizations. The main goals and directions of legal work in commercial organizations are defined. The types of legal means used in the legal work in commercial organizations are specified. It is concluded that effectiveness of law is determined by the effective use of the legal means by all subjects of legal work.

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