NCJ Number
85649
Journal
British Journal of Law and Society Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: (Summer 1981) Pages: 79-96
Date Published
1981
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This essay develops principles for facilitating research access to attorney activities and views, using the experiences in a study of the operation of a legal aid scheme that employed local attorneys in South Wales.
Abstract
Many researchers have backed off from studying attorneys under the assumptions that attorneys form a homogeneous society reluctant to expose its inner workings to the public and particularly researchers. This view was not borne out in the South Wales research. Since the issue of the design and operation of the legal aid scheme was a matter of public interest and local attorneys had divergent views about it, many were eager to express their views for the record. Among those eager to speak about the issue are those who can be classified as 'informants,' since they are especially cooperative in supplying accurate and useful inside information that more inhibited subjects are reluctant to supply. Informing a subject of comments and views expressed in interviews with others can often encourage the subject to express his/her views, particularly if they contradict those who have already provided input to the researcher. Publication of the findings, particularly when the findings are initially summarized in the media, can create a backlash among the research subjects if they consider their views were not presented properly nor critiqued fairly. A sharing of the research findings with the principals before publication can do much to mitigate distortions that may appear when the media reports the research findings. Thirty-five notes and references are listed.