"Drawing on the boundary theory (Nippert-Eng, 1996a) and the concept of institutional framework according to Piszczek and Berg (2014), we explore in this paper the link between institutional settings and boundary management practices in the case of self-employed German lawyers. Qualitative empirical results on the basis of 12 interviews reveal that the institutional context in case of self-employed lawyers combine “discretionary”, “bureaucratic” and “greedy” (Nippert-Eng, 1996a) elements which consist of legal requirements, expectations of clients and family-related demands. Ways of dealing with institutional requirements (complying, resisting, and negotiating) in terms of boundary management of self-employed lawyers are discussed."

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