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Title:

Tiresome rite. Advocate and legal counsel application in Poland

Subject and Keywords:

law   application   advocates   legal counsels   legal education

Abstract:

The image of the application that emerges from the study stands in contradiction with the official narrative of legal corporations. The representatives of the self-governmentalbodies emphasize that their educational offer differs from the university education. Moreover, they draw attention to the practical aspect of the courses and the importance of the supervision as a personal relationship between the applicant and the “master”. At the same time, the self-governmental bodies lack systematic reflection on didactics. On one hand, the advocate and legal counsel self-governmental bodies do not undertake qualitative evaluation of the education offered. On the other hand, research, like this one, is met with distrust. As a result, lecturers who carry out courses repeat the patterns known from the academic education. The study indicates that the application is based on the mechanism of “a tiresome necessity”. Applicants undertake and manage to complete the application – despite their negative assessment – because they are determined to obtain a professional title. This stage should, therefore, not be treated as an educational service – consisting of transferring the knowledge and skills necessary to become a professional attorney in return for an appropriate tuition fee – but as a “rite of passage”, understood as a set of ceremonies, that is, a process by which the social status of a law graduate is changed and consequently, he or she gets accepted into an elite group of legal counsels and advocates. The social prestige of these professions, together with the conviction that legal application is a natural choice following law studies, is the reason why law graduates are prepared to devote their time and resources in order to obtain a professional title. This may also explain why the applicants – despite such a critical assessment – do not undertake any action to change their situation. Due to their “transitional” status, they not only are not treated as equal partners by the self-governmental bodies, but also they do not find themselves in a favourable position to undertake long-term initiatives or to give voice to their expectations. A perspective of becoming an advocate or a legal counsel in the near future disciplines them and hindersany actions that could lead to an improvement in the applicants’ situation and the quality of education offered to them.

Place of publishing:

Wrocław

Publisher:

The Centre for Legal Education and Social Theory (CLEST)   Inicjatywa Wydawnicza "Chiazm"

Date issued:

2019

Identifier:

ISBN 978-83-949423-3-5

Language:

eng   pol

Rights holder:

Copyright by Michał Stambulski   Copyright by Wojciech Zomerski

Location of original object:

Biblioteka Instytutu Pedagogiki UWr

Autor opisu:

h.w.