Lawyers can be defined as knowledge workers. They are
professionals who have gained knowledge through formal
education (explicit) and through learning on the job (tacit).
Often there is some variation in the quality of their education
and learning. The value of professionals’ education
tends to hold throughout their careers. For example, lawyers
in Norway are asked whether they got the good grade
of ‘laud’ (now A), even 30 years after graduation. Professionals’
prestige (which is based partly on the institutions
from which they obtained their education) is a valuable
organizational resource because of the elite social network
that provides access to valuable external resources for the
firm (Hitt et al., 2001).