This completely rewritten and updated new edition of a practical text continues to provide a firm introduction to law and legal processes and their relation to social work practice. Using Clinton's welfare reform act of 1996, Albert provides a conceptual framework to illustrate how socio-legal problems emerge in the welfare state, and presents the skills base necessary for effective social work response. A new section on socio-legal issues highlights many fields where social worker-lawyer partnerships can occur, such as civil rights and advocacy, the death penalty, liability for neglect in nursing homes, informed consent and medical treatment, and much more. Filled with techniques for reading and understanding judicial opinion, legislative statues, and bills, this new edition will appeal to all professors of law and social work courses, as well as courses on the welfare state.