The purpose of the research was to investigate the knowledge-sharing practices of legal professionals at the Gauteng Justice Centres of the Legal Aid Board (LAB). The rationale for the study was based on the premise that since the LAB is a knowledge-intensive organization, it is well suited to the implementation of knowledge management. Any successful knowledge management implementation plan, is founded upon the knowledge-sharing culture of the organization, hence the motivation for the research. Self-administered questionnaires were used to survey the views of the legal professionals regarding their knowledge-sharing practices. Three hundred and twenty-five (325) questionnaires were distributed, of which 143 were returned. The data received was presented in the form of tables and figures. Percentages and content analysis was used to analyze the data collected. The findings from the survey revealed that while knowledge-sharing and knowledge management took place at the LAB, it was not guided by a strategy of the organization. The findings also revealed that the knowledge-sharing and knowledge management which did take place did so on an ad hoc basis and was woven into the daily activities of the respondents. The researcher drew conclusions based on the analysis of the data and in the context of related literature and proposed a way forward for the implementation of knowledge management and knowledge-sharing practices at the LAB. The researcher recommended that the LAB employ a knowledge officer, who should be responsible for driving the knowledge management process. Furthermore, the researcher recommended that knowledge sharing should be compulsory and be rewarded. / Thesis (M.I.S.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

Percepções sobre o acesso à justiça: olhares dos usuários da Defensoria Pública do Estado de São Paulo. Dissertação de mestrado. Tratando de representações sociais relacionadas à experiência de acesso à justiça junto a assistidos pela Defensoria na área cível, o estudo se volta à reflexão dos significados produzidos nesse acesso. A coleta de dados de base qualitativa foi orientada pela teoria das representações sociais e pela técnica da análise de conteúdo. Conjugando a pesquisa empírica com pressupostos teóricos radicados, sobretudo nos Direitos Humanos e na Teoria do Reconhecimento, propõe-se a investigar em que medida a Defensoria é percebida como uma instituição que proporciona o acesso à justiça. / Perceptions about access to justice: the users views of the Public Defenders Office of the State of Sao Paulo. Thesis. The study focuses on the reflection of the meanings produced in the access to justice of beneficiaries of the civil legal aid services provided by the Public Defenders Office. It takes into consideration the social representations related to the experience of access to justice of the aforementioned beneficiaries. The collection of qualitative data base was driven by social representations theory and technique of content analysis. Combining empirical research with theoretical assumptions rooted mainly in Human Rights and the Theory of Recognition, the study aims at investigating the extent to which the Public Defenders Office is perceived as an institution that provides access to justice.

A presente pesquisa analisa o direito à assistência jurídica integral e gratuita como pertencente ao grupo dos direitos humanos e também dos direitos fundamentais. Seu estudo é elaborado sob o aspecto do desenvolvimento do Estado do Bem Estar Social, do princípio da igualdade e da superação dos obstáculos ao acesso à Justiça. Nesse sentido, é enfatizada a função da Defensoria Pública da União como entidade responsável por prestar assistência jurídica no âmbito da Justiça do Trabalho, tanto aos trabalhadores necessitados, como aos empregadores que comprovarem os requisitos elencados pela lei para obtenção dessa assistência. Além disso, são analisadas algumas especificidades do Direito do Processual do Trabalho como o jus postulandi e a questão dos honorários advocatícios relacionadas ao tema da assistência jurídica. Por fim, em decorrência do tratamento legal concedido à prestação de assistência jurídica na seara laboral, é estudada com maior profundidade a função assistencial dos sindicatos diante do princípio da liberdade sindical e as modalidades de assistência jurídica que as entidades sindicais prestam a seus representados. / The following research analyzes the right to free and integral legal aid as part of human rights as well as fundamental rights. Its study is developed from the points of view of the Welfare State, the principle of equality and the overcoming of obstacles towards the access to Justice. In this regard, it is emphasized the role of the Federal Public Defender\'s Office as the entity responsible for providing legal aid services in the scope of Labor Court, for both workers in need and for employers who prove to meet the requirements listed by law for obtaining this assistance. Furthermore, we analyzed some particularities of the Labor Procedural Law such as the possibility for a party to plead his own cause and the matter of attorneys\' fees in labor cases related to legal aid. Ultimately, due to treatment granted to legal referral in the labor field, the assistance role of trade unions is studied more deeply next to the principle of freedom of association and the categories of legal aid services which these unions provide to their ones represented.

Text in Afrikaans / The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 200 of 1993 that took effect from 27 April 1994, gave an accused a constitutional right to legal representation. Although the right of an accused to be legally represented formed an integral part of the South African Law, the Constitution gave him the further right ofbeing provided with legal representation at the cost of the State . For the practical implementation ofthe Constitution extensive changes to the current Legal Aid Scheme are essential . This work is an investigation of the justification of an accused's right to legal representation and the right to be provided with legal representation at the expense of the State . The practical implementation of the Constitution is discussed and suggestions are made that might be a solution to the current problem of the provision of legal aid at the State's expense. / Die Grondwet van die Republiek van Suid-Afrika 200 van 1993 wat op 27 April 1994 in werking getree het, het konstitusionele erkenning verleen aan 'n beskuldigde se reg op regsverteenwoordiging . Alhoewel die reg van 'n beskuldigde tot regsverteenwoordiging inherent deel van die Suid-Afrikaanse reg was het die Grondwet verder gegaan en 'n beskuldigde die reg gegee om op staatskoste van regsverteenwoordiging voorsien te word . Om die Grondwet prakties uitvoerbaar te maak sal ingrypende veranderings aan die huidige Regshulpskema noodsaaklik wees . Hierdie werk behels 'n regshistoriese - en regsvergelykende studie van die reg van 'n beskuldigde tot regsverteenwoordiging en die reg om op staatskoste van regshulp voorsien te word . Die praktiese uitvoerbaarheid van die Grondwet word bespreek en voorstelle word aan die hand gedoen om die huidige situasie, wat betref die verskaffing van regshulp op staatskoste, te verbeter . / Criminal & Procedural Law / LL. M.

This dissertation deals with judicial review of governmental action and individual legal activism. It investigates whether judicial protection of individual rights and individual legal activism, within the field of public law, can be seen as an alternative or complement to electoral control of political and administrative powers. To discuss the effect of various standing rules and the potential societal function of public law adjudication, a model for analyzing the character of public law adjudication has been developed. The model allows for a characterization of public law adjudication as either Liberal or Republican, depending on features of standing rules, court proceedings, and court decisions. It concludes that judicial protection of individual rights and individual legal activism within the field of public law can be seen as an alternative or complement to electoral control of political and administrative powers, especially when public trust in, and the powers of, the legislative assembly and political parties is low and decreasing, and if the preconditions for individual legal activism are of such a character that access to justice is available to the larger public and not only a limited group of advantaged individuals. This theoretical framework is then used to analyse judicial protection of individual rights and individual legal activism in post-Socialist Russia. The results show that the Russian state is best described as authoritarian and that the traditional principal-agent relationship is weak. Thus, in order to strengthen the individual in relation to the state, alternatives for exercising control and participation are required. An analysis of the legislative framework, i.e., the law as it is laid down in the books, shows that Russian administrative law is rights-based and that the character of Russian public law adjudication is closer to the Republican model than the Liberal. However, the Russian support structure is still weak and finds itself in an increasingly inhospitable environment – legally, financially, and politically. In addition, this dissertation concludes that Russia’s membership in the CoE has had an impact on judicial protection of individual rights within the sphere of public law in terms of: improving the legislative framework; developing Russian court jurisprudence referring to the ECHR and to the jurisprudence of the ECtHR; exerting pressure on the Russian state to improve practices of the state bureaucracy; stimulating individual legal activism, and increasing individuals’ knowledge and awareness of their lawful rights and how to implement them.

The thesis examines accompanied asylum-seeking children’s position in Swedish asylum reception management and in the determination of their claims. The three articles of the thesis focus on children’s own experiences of seeking asylum, on the experiences and practices of the civil servants at the Migration Board, as well as those of the legal representatives that assist asylum-seekers in the application process. The thesis builds on ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2008 and 2010 in southwest Sweden. Theoretical inspiration has been sought in the new sociology of childhood as well as in practice theory. The first article in the thesis concerns children’s caseworkers who are responsible for safeguarding children’s interests in the Migration Board’s daily work with reception. The study highlights a range of dilemmas caseworkers have to deal with in their role as frontline bureaucrats. The study shows that the children’s caseworkers often perceive their discretion as limited, but also that they themselves contribute to limiting it, for example due to their hesitation in challenging existing norms and collegiality.    The second article examines the ways in which legal representatives, who act on behalf of families in asylum determinations, in their practice perceive and relate to the concept of children’s best interests and children’s right to participate. The study shows that children in families can become invisible in the legal representatives’ daily rounds. This invisibility is due to practical limitations in the representatives’ work as well as a general view that children rarely have their own grounds for asylum, as separate claimants to their parents. The third paper of the thesis explores the ways in which children experience and seek to influence circumstances that signify their time spent as asylum-seekers. The study shows how the children developed a range of tactics to deal with their particular situations, which varied with their housing and schooling, and the family’s financial resources. The conclusion is that the children themselves are the primary representatives of the child perspective in the asylum-seeking process, not least through their struggle to belong and create a life like that of ’ordinary’ children.  In line with previous research in the field, the thesis points to the contradiction between the principle of regulated migration and the child perspective in the asylum-seeking process. Together with practical circumstances, such as lack of resources, this contradiction results in a more limited implementation of the child perspective than rules and regulations actually stipulate. Finally, the thesis points to the active role asylum-seeking children take in their efforts to create an everyday life that is as similar as possible to that of  the ’ordinary’ children (e.g. non asylum-seeker and permanently settled children) around them. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Submitted.</p>

Le rôle de la femme dans le procès peut être ramené à trois domaines : le témoignage, la défense judiciaire et la condition de défendeur.Selon l’opinion commune, la femme ne pouvait être témoin. Toutefois, cela ne coïncide pas avec la lettre des Digesta (22.5.18 ; 22.5.3.5). Ils attestent une capacité testimoniale générale de la femme, à moins qu’elle n’ait pas été condamnée en tant qu’adultère.En dépit du fait que la femme était exclue moribus des officia dits virilia (D. 50.17.2 pr.-1), il y a des témoignages de mulieres qui ont discuté des causes pro se aut pro aliis. Celles-ci sont considérées avec dédain par les auteurs anciens car l’in iudicis tacere était le seul comportement approprié à la condicio naturae de la femme.Évidemment, il n’y avait pas de place dans le monde romain pour des femmes juges. Et il est intéressant que Cassius Dion (h. R. 50.5.4) emploie cette exclusion pour démontrer à quel point la reine Cléopâtre était lointaine des mœurs romaines.La casuistique la plus large est celle des femmes défendeurs. Le modèle féminin idéal dans l’imaginaire romain est celui de la bonne épouse et mère, sobre dans les mœurs, modérée dans la parole, affable, pudique, obéissante. Sur un arrière-plan social ainsi esquissé, les crimes féminins les plus courants sont alors l’empoisonnement, l’adultère et les relations sexuelles avant le mariage. Il faut par ailleurs remarquer le crime résultant de la consommation de vin, à savoir une infraction qui est considérée comme telle seulement si son auteur est une femme. Puisque la mulier pouvait être jugée avec le système en vigueur au moment du procès / The woman’s role in the trial can substantially be brought back to three areas: the evidence, the legal aid and the guilt.It is generally accepted that the woman could not be a witness. However this does not what come out from the Digest, where is deduced a general witness ability unless the woman has not been condemned for adultery.Even though the woman was excluded moribus from the officia virilia (D. 50.17.2 pr.-1), in addition to the position of witness, there are testimonies of mulieres that discussed cases pro se aut pro aliis. This women are judged by the ancient authors with indignation (because the in iudicis tacere was the only appropriate behavior for the female condicio naturae). They are extraordinary exempla, that must be handed down as negative examples.Of course, there was no place in the Roman world for women judges. It is interesting how Cassius Dio (h. R. 50.5.4) uses this foreclosure, to demonstrate how much Queen Cleopatra was far from the Roman customs.The largest range of cases is the one of mulieres reae. The Idealtypus of the woman for the Romans is the one of a good wife and a good mother, sober, reliable, silent. In this social background, the female crimes more perpetrated are therefore veneficium, adulterium, stuprum and probum. It is particular also the crime of wine drinking, a hypothesis of crime that is punished only if it is made by a woman. The mulier was – within the limits of her status – cives and she could be tried with every trial system. But, some characteristics have distinguished the trial against men from the trial against women.

Text in Afrikaans / The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 200 of 1993 that took effect from 27 April 1994, gave an accused a constitutional right to legal representation. Although the right of an accused to be legally represented formed an integral part of the South African Law, the Constitution gave him the further right ofbeing provided with legal representation at the cost of the State . For the practical implementation ofthe Constitution extensive changes to the current Legal Aid Scheme are essential . This work is an investigation of the justification of an accused's right to legal representation and the right to be provided with legal representation at the expense of the State . The practical implementation of the Constitution is discussed and suggestions are made that might be a solution to the current problem of the provision of legal aid at the State's expense. / Die Grondwet van die Republiek van Suid-Afrika 200 van 1993 wat op 27 April 1994 in werking getree het, het konstitusionele erkenning verleen aan 'n beskuldigde se reg op regsverteenwoordiging . Alhoewel die reg van 'n beskuldigde tot regsverteenwoordiging inherent deel van die Suid-Afrikaanse reg was het die Grondwet verder gegaan en 'n beskuldigde die reg gegee om op staatskoste van regsverteenwoordiging voorsien te word . Om die Grondwet prakties uitvoerbaar te maak sal ingrypende veranderings aan die huidige Regshulpskema noodsaaklik wees . Hierdie werk behels 'n regshistoriese - en regsvergelykende studie van die reg van 'n beskuldigde tot regsverteenwoordiging en die reg om op staatskoste van regshulp voorsien te word . Die praktiese uitvoerbaarheid van die Grondwet word bespreek en voorstelle word aan die hand gedoen om die huidige situasie, wat betref die verskaffing van regshulp op staatskoste, te verbeter . / Criminal and Procedural Law / LL. M.

Depuis l’antiquité, les avocats entretiennent avec l’argent une relation particulière.Jouant à la fois un rôle sur le plan social et professionnel, il constitue un élémentdéterminant de la profession.Le XIXe et le XXe « siècles de l’argent », symboles de la révolution industrielle,des mutations sociales et de l’avènement de la bourgeoisie ne peuvent qu’influencer lesrapports entre l’avocat et l’argent. Toutefois, si elles demeurent toujours très proches, laprofession à travers sa déontologie tente d’éloigner ces deux notions en instaurant leconcept du désintéressement et l’idée de mission sociale.Mais c’est sans compter sur la force et la puissance des transformations sociétales.Refuser de vivre avec son temps expose aux critiques et attise la suspicion. Plus quejamais il est l’heure pour les avocats de considérer leur profession comme un métier etde lever le voile sur des siècles de mystère dans ce lien les unissant à l’argent. / Since antiquity, lawyers have a special relationship with money. As a key elementof the profession, it plays both a social and a professional role in it.The 19th and 20th « money centuries », symbols of the industrial revolution, ofdeep social changes and of the advent of the middle class, obviously influenced thelinks between lawyers and money. However, as close as these two notions may remain,the profession tries, through its deontology, to keep a distance between them, institutingthe concept of disinterest and the idea of social mission.But it has to take into account the strength and power of societal changes.Refusing to move with the times can only raise criticisms and stir suspicion. More thanever, it is time for lawyers to consider their profession as a metier and to lift the veilfrom centuries of mystery about their links with money.

La recherche démontre que les personnes en situation d’itinérance (PSI) sont contrôlées, exclues, (sur)judiciarisées et qu’elles sont confrontées à de nombreux obstacles lorsqu’elles se retrouvent devant les tribunaux (accès à un avocat, capacité à négocier, sentences mésadaptées, etc.). Toutefois, malgré leur influence sur les procédures judiciaires et l’accès à la justice, nous en savons peu sur le travail des avocats de la défense qui représentent les PSI. Comment identifient-ils une situation d’itinérance (visible ou cachée) et de quelle manière adaptent-ils leur pratique lorsqu’ils travaillent avec cette clientèle ? Quelles stratégies utilisent-ils pour négocier avec les autres acteurs impliqués (procureurs, juges, intervenants socio-judiciaires, etc.) aux différentes étapes du processus judiciaire, notamment le cautionnement et la détermination de la peine ? Enfin, dans quels contextes collaborent-ils avec les programmes de justice thérapeutique et quels sont les impacts de leurs interactions avec les parties prenantes non juridiques, comme les travailleurs sociaux ou les intervenants communautaires ? Pour répondre à ces questions, je me base sur les données provenant d’entretiens semi-dirigés réalisés auprès d’avocats de la défense criminelle et pénale (N=41) œuvrant dans la région du Grand Montréal (Montréal, Laval, Longueuil) entre juillet et décembre 2021. Suivant une analyse de type « codebook » fondée sur les entretiens et la littérature socio-légale, je soutiens que les avocats qui représentent des PSI sont limités dans leur capacité de négociation, principalement en raison du manque de ressources (sous-financement de l’aide juridique, manque de logements abordables, de services en santé mentale et de thérapies, etc.) ainsi que du fonctionnement même du système judiciaire (rythme expéditif, emphase mise sur la responsabilité individuelle, etc.). Afin de pallier les obstacles, ils sont appelés à remplir diverses tâches extrajudiciaires (accompagnement pour la demande d’aide juridique, référencement vers ressources psychosociales, collaboration avec intervenants, etc.), allant parfois jusqu’à adopter un rôle s’apparentant à celui d’un travailleur social. Ces constats soulignent l’importance de modifier les lois qui ciblent disproportionnellement les PSI, d’investir dans le soutien communautaire et d’offrir les outils nécessaires aux professionnels du droit afin qu’ils puissent dégager des alternatives à la judiciarisation non seulement des PSI, mais aussi de plusieurs accusés socio-économiquement défavorisés et/ou marginalisés. / Research shows people experiencing homelessness (PEH) are controlled, excluded, (over)criminalized and that they face many obstacles when they find themselves in court (access to a lawyer, ability to negotiate, inappropriate sentences, etc.). Despite the influence they have on legal proceedings and access to justice, we know little about the work of defense lawyers representing PEH. How do they identify who is experiencing homelessness (visible or hidden) and how do they adapt their practice when working with this clientele? What strategies do they use to negotiate with other actors involved (crown attorney, judges, socio-judicial stakeholders, etc.) at different stages of the judicial process, in particular bail and sentencing? Finally, in what contexts do they collaborate with therapeutic justice programs and what are the impacts of their interactions with non-legal actors, like social workers or community stakeholders? To answer these questions, I rely on data from semi-structured interviews conducted with criminal defense lawyers (N=41) working in the Greater Montreal area (Montreal, Laval, Longueuil) between July and December 2021. Following a “codebook” type analysis based on interviews and socio-legal literature, I argue that lawyers who represent PEH are limited in their ability to negotiate, mainly due to lack of resources (underfunding of legal aid, lack of affordable housing, mental health services and therapies, etc.) as well as the very functioning of the judicial system (fast pace, emphasis on individual responsibility, etc.). To overcome these obstacles, criminal defense lawyers are called upon to perform various extrajudicial tasks (accompaniment for the application for legal aid, referral to psychosocial resources, collaboration with community organizations, etc.), sometimes going as far as adopting a role similar to the one of a social worker. My findings underscore the importance of modifying laws that disproportionately target PEH, investing in community support and providing the necessary tools to legal professionals so that they can find alternatives to the criminalization not only of PEH, but also of several socio-economically disadvantaged and/or marginalized defendants.