Orientations to Law, Guidelines, and Codes in Lawyer–Client Interaction

Abstract

Central to criminal defense case processing are lawyer–client interactions in which texts (law, codes, or guidelines) are invoked and from which texts (case records) are constructed. From interactions with clients, lawyers construct case records that document the client's account of the event in question, records that are later used as the basis of further interactions. In interactions, lawyers invoke law, codes, and guidelines to intimate possible obstacles in the evidence or defenses in the law and furthermore, to justify, repudiate, or explain different courses of action. In these ways, lawyers' orientations to law, codes, and guidelines demonstrate the purposes guiding criminal defense work.