LGBT Family Lawyers and Same-Sex Marriage Recognition: How Legal Change Shapes Professional Identity and Practice

ABSTRACT

Lawyers who practice family law for LGBT clients are key players in the tenuous and evolving legal environment surrounding same-sex marriage recognition. Building on prior research on factors shaping the professional identities of lawyers generally, and activist lawyers specifically, I examine how practice within a rapidly changing, patchwork legal environment shapes professional identity for this group of lawyers. I draw on interviews with 21 LGBT family lawyers to analyze how the unique features of LGBT family law shape their professional identities and practice, as well as their predictions about the development of the practice in a post-Obergefell world. Findings reveal that the professional identities and practice of LGBT family lawyers are shaped by uncertainty, characteristics of activist lawyering, community membership, and community service. Individual motivations and institutional forces work to generate a professional identity that is resilient and dynamic, characterized by skepticism and distrust coupled with flexibility and creativity. These features are likely to play a role in the evolution of the LGBT family lawyer professional identity post-marriage equality.     

我国刑事辩护律师会见权的困境与出路

解决律师会见难这一我国刑事诉讼中的痼疾,需要进一步完善法律细则,规定对侵犯律师会见权的实体制裁与程序性制裁措施,分离羁押与侦查职能,建立由人民法院主持的刑事辩护司法救济程序,并有赖于有中国特色的司法独立的实现和办案人员法治意识、人权保障意识的普遍提高。     

Care, control and change in child care proceedings: dilemmas for social workers, managers and lawyers

This paper draws on findings from an interview‐based study of the ways that local authority social workers, social services managers and lawyers work together in child care cases in England. The study shows how stressful social workers can find care proceedings, and how much they look to the lawyers for support. It also shows how the lawyers’ involvement can bring new stresses and dilemmas. The managers are especially likely to resent ‘over‐involvement’ (as they see it) from lawyers, but lawyers are quick to defend their role and responsibilities. The paper shows how the complex, multifaceted dimensions of care, control and change interweave with professional differences in care proceedings: care for children, parents and social workers; struggles for control against the court, the other parties and sometimes the other professionals on one's own side; and responsiveness to change set against wariness about ‘lawyers’ deals’ and undue risk to children. The paper concludes that the valuing of difference, rather than its avoidance or suppression, is at the heart of effective inter‐professional work. It calls for greater recognition of this in current initiatives to promote interdisciplinary working in children's services in England.     

论审查逮捕程序中新型检律关系的重塑

律师介入审查逮捕程序的比例极低,对批捕与否的参考价值不大。实践中,批捕检察官往往对律师的介入保持消极态度,而律师普遍保持适度积极的态度,但对结果悲观,批捕程序中的检律关系并未起到应有积极作用。在共建法律职业共同体、防范冤假错案的背景下,批捕检察官与律师应当在思想上彼此尊重、平等相待,在工作上相互支持、相互监督,在生活上正当交往、良性互动,构建审查逮捕程序的新型检律关系。     

律师在实现公正审判目标中的地位和作用

在当前司法改革中,律师群体作为最直接、最广泛的司法实践参加者,其参与司法的行为对司法活动产生着重要的影响。律师在实现公正审判目标中的地位和作用主要体现在以下三个方面,分别是律师在实现公正司法的促进作用、律师在参与诉讼活动中对于实体公正和程序公正的促进作用、律师在诉讼之外对司法高效公正的间接促进作用。积极引导并保障律师参与司法活动,充分发挥律师的作用,将有助于公正审判目标的实现。     

Book reviews

In the long eighteenth century, the judges at the Old Bailey came to allow Jewish, Scottish, Muslim, Hindu and Chinese witnesses, but not Quakers, to swear oaths according to their own cultural practices. Although a non-Christian witness might be able to give testimony under oath, the jury still had to assess the veracity of the evidence. The increasingly adversarial mode of felony trials in the eighteenth century made the separation between who was legally able to testify and who was credible more pronounced. Barristers and prisoners raised concerns about the oaths of blacks and non-Christians as a means of impugning the truthfulness of a witness.     

调解程序中的律师：功能定位及障碍消减

律师职业伦理以利他性为中心。调解程序中律师的使命则应致力于向当事人提供法律信息,以利于当事人而不是代替当事人作出正确的决定,促进当事人自治的实现。但律师自身的利益诉求和职业惯性有可能成为承担这一使命的障碍。因此,应该建立律师参与调解的激励与约束机制,包括将法律援助引入调解程序、改革律师收费制度、建立相关费用的分散化机制等,以保障当事人接近律师的权利。此外,律师还可以通过直接担任调解员和参与律师的和解制度等方式促进合意的纠纷解决。     

论在依法治国实践中律师的任务和使命

依法治国的主体是人民,中国法治的前景和进程在很大程度上取决于人民依法治国的要求在多大程度上得到实现.人民作为治国主体,所享有的权力及权利能够得到切实有效的保障,是中国律师在内的各种社会中介力量的现实任务,由此而推动依法治国,建设社会主义法治国家的进程是中国律师的跨世纪历史使命.     

Naming,blaming and claiming ablism: the lived experiences of lawyers and advocates with disabilities

The social model explains that different abilities are not the true cause of disablement. Ablist institutions and practices construct a certain level of ability as disability. How do people respond when they are being disabled by society? This study analyses how 28 advocates and lawyers with disabilities respond when they confront ablism. This study employs the naming, blaming and claiming model to map the conduct of 28 lawyers and advocates with disabilities from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Despite their empowered position, participants often did not claim for every act of ablism. This study analyses why participants did not claim. One of the primary issues raised by participants was a gap between the range of parties who caused disablement in society and the way in which anti-discrimination laws attributed duties.     

The Legal System and Alzheimer’s Disease: Social Workers and Lawyers’ Perceptions and Experiences

The expected increase in the number of people living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) worldwide will be accompanied by an increase in the number of cases involving persons with AD brought up to the courts. This study examined the perceptions and experiences of social workers and lawyers regarding these cases. Three focus groups including social workers and lawyers (n = 26) were conducted. Two main themes were raised by the participants: (a) the role of social workers and lawyers in court cases regarding AD, and (b) the need for improving legal encounters involving persons with AD. Similarities and differences were found in both professionals’ interpretations of these shared themes. Results of this study emphasize the need for increasing the knowledge and interprofessional training provided to social workers and lawyers involved in legal cases dealing with issues involving persons with Alzheimer’s disease.