Skip to main content
DORAS
DCU Online Research Access Service
Login (DCU Staff Only)
Selecting a lawyer: the practical arrangement of police station legal assistance

Daly, Yvonne Marie ORCID: 0000-0001-5654-665X and Conway, Vicky (2021) Selecting a lawyer: the practical arrangement of police station legal assistance. Journal of Law and Society, 48 . pp. 618-644. ISSN 0263-323X

Full text available as:

[img]
Preview
PDF - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
179kB

Abstract

The importance of the right to legal assistance for suspects detained for police questioning, as part of the right to a fair trial, has been emphasized within the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Union Roadmap directives on procedural rights. This article examines an overlooked aspect of the protection of that right: the selection of a lawyer in the police station. The selection process is unregulated in jurisdictions across Europe. Using Ireland as a case study, and drawing on interviews with 44 criminal defence solicitors, this article highlights concerns around the influence of police on the selection deci-sion, the favouring of certain (types of) solicitors, and the impact on the quality of legal assistance, particularly for persons with additional vulnerabilities. The authors argue that the lack of a formal, transparent system for the selection of lawyers undermines the effectiveness of the right to legal assistance.

Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Subjects:Social Sciences > Law
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > School of Law and Government
Publisher:John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Official URL:https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jols.12317
Copyright Information:© 2021 The Authors. Open access (CC-BY 4.0)
Funders:Dublin City University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Fellowship, Grant/Award Number: 2018/2019
ID Code:27446
Deposited On:28 Jul 2022 10:43 by Thomas Murtagh . Last Modified 28 Jul 2022 10:43

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Archive Staff Only: edit this record

  • Student Email
  • Staff Email
  • Student Apps
  • Staff Apps
  • Loop
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us