SOC293H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Intimate Relationship, Horizontal Bar, Confidence Trick
Lecture 9: Courts
Getting to court – naming, blaming, claiming
We all experience problems and troubles everyday
Under what conditions do people experience injustice?
- Unperceived injurious experience (UnpIE) must be transformed into a perceived injurious experience (PIE)
- Naming, blaming, claiming then transformed into a dispute
Naming – saying to oneself that a particular experience has been injurious
- Asbestosis had to become defined as a disease and only then did they see this as a problem and not
something that simply happens to all workers
Blaming – transforming an injury into a grievance – occurs when an individual attributes his injury to the fault of
another person (or social entity)
- Injured person must feel wronged and believe that something might be done in response to the injury. It is
only blaming when someone is held responsible
Claiming – when someone with a grievance voices it to the person or entity believed to be responsible and asks
for a remedy
Naming, blaming, claiming
What is being transformed and who is doing the transforming?
- Parties – who are they, what is their relationship, are they individuals or businesses
- Who do they blame? (themselves?)
- Choice of mechanism – courts vs. mediators vs. therapists
- Did they use a lawyer?
Courts as adversarial?
There is a community level shared goals between the defense, prosecutor and judge
Courtrooms, defense lawyers around them – people know each other
- Other level of cooperation since everyone may know everyone
Blumberg: practice of law as a confidence game
Is the criminal case an adversarial proceeding?
Role of the Defense Attorney (legal aid, public defender or privately retained)
- Part of the courtroom workgroup, “closed community”
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- Resulting in a wide range of practices to keep the court in motion
- Importance of guilty pleas
The role of the defense lawyer
Main role of defense lawyer is to get paid (as a service)
Fee collection and fixing
Getting paid shapes much of the court interaction – and not just the defense lawyer
- Confidence game
When you hire lawyer, you are not able to assess the quality of their work
Compare lawyers to plumbers or doctors – how are we supposed to know if they will help drop charges?
Lawyer needs to set trust
Intangible (how do we know he is doing a good job) vs tangible
This is why law firms look that way and how lawyers look
What is the character of legal work?
Image, persona, etc
- What determines the size of the lawyer’s fee?
Should the case go to trial, fee will be proportionately larger depending on length
Problem of always losing – even when they win
- “Getting a guilty plea is winning”
Criminal lawyer has three goals
1. Arrange for the fee
- How and when does the lawyer collect the fee?
- In stages (before court, interviews etc)
2. Prepare and possibly “cool out” the client in case of likely defeat
- Teaching clients how this system works and how they will win
3. Satisfy the court that s/he has performed adequately
- Other people are part of this stance also (guilty plea is not just between lawyer and client)
Defense lawyer as a double agent
Double agents
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
We all experience problems and troubles everyday. Unperceived injurious experience (unpie) must be transformed into a perceived injurious experience (pie) Naming, blaming, claiming then transformed into a dispute. Naming saying to oneself that a particular experience has been injurious. Asbestosis had to become defined as a disease and only then did they see this as a problem and not something that simply happens to all workers. Blaming transforming an injury into a grievance occurs when an individual attributes his injury to the fault of another person (or social entity) Injured person must feel wronged and believe that something might be done in response to the injury. It is only blaming when someone is held responsible. Claiming when someone with a grievance voices it to the person or entity believed to be responsible and asks for a remedy. Parties who are they, what is their relationship, are they individuals or businesses. Choice of mechanism courts vs. mediators vs. therapists.
