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‘A UNANIMOUS TACIT COMPLICITY’* DOES REPRODUCTION SERVE AS

GATEKEEPING?

*Pierre Bourdieu, 'The Force of Law: Toward a Sociology of the Juridical Field' (1986) 38 Hastings Law Journal 805, 843.

Kristoffer GreavesAustralian Lawyer - PhD Candidate

Deakin University School of Education

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PLT Practitioners as Gatekeepers?

• PLT practitioners are lawyers

• Lawyers are officers of the Court

• Paramount duty

• ?Intersects with PLT work…

…when assessing competence?

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Does lawyer’s paramount obligation intersect with work as PLT practitioner when assessing competency?

YES; 21

NO; 8

UNSURE; 4n = 33

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“Yes”

• Duty to Court is paramount – that’s it

• Duty to Public important too

• We are gatekeepers (5)

• Credibility of course/provider important

• But:

– Feel conflicted / confronted sometimes

– Law School graduates without basic competencies

5

“No”

• PLT provider’s problem

• Not gatekeepers (1)

• Market forces take care of it

• Protection of clients prevails

• Top Down / Bottom Up pressure prevails

• Student attributes subsume PLT outcomes

6

Gatekeepers?

• PLT Practitioners - competency

• Admission Boards – suitability + eligibility

• Profession – work experience + hiring prefs

7

Remind me…

Why Do We Do PLT?

8

Purpose of Legal Profession Acts

Protect Clients

Protect Administration of

Justice

Assure Quality of Legal Services

10

Field Forces and Agents

11

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Struggles for categories of capital

• Cultural – dispositions, goods, qualifications

• Social – durable networks, mutual recognition

• Symbolic – mastery, prestige

• Economic - financial

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‘A UNANIMOUS TACIT COMPLICITY’

• Bourdieu – reflexive sociology

• Social stratification + professional training

• Judicial independence – but commits to established

order

• Law as ‘Education System’

• Reproduction - dispositions + practices

• ‘Symbolic Violence’ - compliance

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Using BourdieuDezalay + Madsen (2012)

• Ways profession constructs key position in

management + evolution of state

• No predetermined path for law + lawyers –

evolution of legal forms and institutions –

needs empirical exploration

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Using Bourdieu

Structure and Agency

• Are practices able to influence structures?

• Are structures inscribed into practices?

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de Certeau

• Practices in everyday life

• Agents’ tactics to resist dominant strategies/structures

• Tricks, turns, appropriations, micro-inventions

• Some interviewees:

– Resist top down, bottom up pressures

– Divert resources to assist less able trainees

– Further diversity in profession

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@pleagletrainer