Book Reviews : M. McConville, J. Hodgson, L. Bridges and A. Pavlovic, Standing Accused: The Organization and Practices of Criminal Defence Lawyers in Britain - Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994, 312pp
| DOI | 10.1177/096466399500400418 |
| Published date | 01 December 1995 |
| Date | 01 December 1995 |
| Author | Pat Carlen |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
548
M.
McCONVILLE,
J.
HODGSON,
L.
BRIDGES
AND
A.
PAVLOVIC,
Standing
Accused:
The
Organization
and
Practices
of
Criminal
Defence
Lawyers
in
Britain -
Oxford:
Clarendon
Press,
1994,
312pp.
Stranding
Accused
is
the
first
ethnographic
study
of
criminal
defence
lawyers
in
England
and
Wales.
In
it
McConville
and
his
co-authors
provide
a
detailed
description
of
the
day-to-day
working
practices
and
strategic
professional
ideologies
of
over
forty
firms
observed
and
surveyed
during
two
research
exercises.
One
is
the
main
research
project
(1988-91)
on
whose
findings
this
book
is
primarily
based.
The
other
is
the
research
undertaken
on
behalf
of
The
Royal
Commission
on
Criminal
Justice,
the
sample
for
which
was
drawn
in
1992.
Conveniently,
the
authors
provide
a
succinct
and
accurate
summary
of
the
book’s
contents
at
the
end
of
the
first
chapter:
After
describing
the
organization
of
firms
(Chapter
2)
and
the
culture
of
criminal
defenders
(Chapter
3)
the
research
attempts
to
describe
and
analyse
the
practices
of
firms
at
each
critical
point
of
the
process,
from
the
giving
of advice
in
advance
of
interrogation
(Chapter
4),
through
attendance
at
interrogations
(Chapter
5),
getting
the
client’s
story
in
the
solicitor’s
office
(Chapter
6),
adjournment
and
bail
hearings
(Chapter
7),
plea
and
mitigation
hearings
(Chapter
8),
trials
in
the
magistrates’
courts
(Chapter
9)
and
instructing
barristers
and
solicitors
in
crown
court
cases
(Chapter
10).
(p. 16)
The
book
is
a
model
of
good
empirical
social
investigation,
and
for
its
unique
focus
alone
is
extremely
important.
But
its
findings
also
shock,
primarily
because
they
call
into
question
many
of
the
most
commonly-held
assumptions
about
the
role
of
the
defence
lawyer
in
criminal
proceedings.
This
rich
text
provides
much
more
than
simply
an
expose
of
the
myth
that
legal
representation
necessarily
improves
the
quality
of
justice -
for
example,
there
is
an
illuminating
typology
of
solicitors’
firms,
and
a
brief
history
of
legal
aid.
However,
the
rest
of
this
review
will
concentrate
on
those
aspects
of
contemporary
criminal
defence
solicitors’
practice,
reform
of
which
should
have
been
a
matter
of
central
(rather
than
apparently
peripheral)
concern
to
the
Royal
Commission
On
Criminal
Justice,
1993.
The
main
finding
of
the
research
reported
in
this
book
is
that
the
overall
quality
of
criminal
defence
work
is
very
poor:
a
high
proportion
of
it
is
delegated
to
unqualified
staff
who
have
been
occupationally
socialized
into
producing
guilty
pleas;
there
is
usually
very
little
investigation
of
a
client’s
defence;
and
discontinuity
of
representation
is
the
norm
rather
than
the
exception.
Worst
of
all,
is
’the
extent
to
which
defendants
[are]
&dquo;set
up&dquo;
for
guilty
pleas
by
the
very
manner
in
which
the
pre-court
stages
of
the
defence
[are]
conducted’
(p.
277).
So
what
is
to
be
done?
Not
a
lot,
according
to
McConville
et
al.
who,
though
they
consider
some
possible
models
for
reform,
do
not
seem
to
be
totally
enamoured
of
any
of
them.
But,
then,
how
could
they
be?
For
in
the
book’s
introduction
they
have
already
hit
on
the
only
radical
solution-
’to
deconstruct
the
prosecution
case
by
attempting
to
uncover
the
process
by
which
the
evidence
against
the
client
came
into
existence’
(p. 10).
Certainly
such
’deconstruction’
would
require
the
’radical
re-orientation’
of
criminal
defence
practice
which
the
authors
propose
in
their
concluding
chapter -
a
reorientation
which
would
involve
both
a
radical
redistribution
of
legal
aid
funds
and
greater
quality
control of
the
training
and
performance
of
criminal
defence
practitioners.
But,
as
they
themselves
also
point
out,
managerial
and
educational
reforms
are
not
enough.
Law
reform
is
also
a
question
of
values -
both
moral
and
political -
and
that
is
why
the
reader
who
is
shocked
by
this
book’s
revelations
of
such
poor
quality
criminal
defence
lawyering
has
to
confront
the
two
most
important
questions
raised
by
this
study:
’Is
there
sufficient
To continue reading
Request your trial