This thesis reports results of a research study into the information behaviour of Kuwaiti legal professionals. The main aims of the research were to investigate the information behaviour and the information needs of Kuwaiti legal professionals, and examine whether the existing legal information sources and services meet their needs. The theoretical framework for this research was derived from the investigation of information behaviour in general, and studies of legal professionals in particular. Wilson's (1996) model of information behaviour was also used to develop the conceptual framework of this research. This model takes into account four types of information seeking behaviour: active search, passive search, passive attention and ongoing search. This model helped in formulating research questions and hypotheses and the design of data collections methods. It was used also as a tool for organising the interpretation and discussion of the research findings. The research methods were designed from a user-centred perspective, including using data collection methods that are supportive of user-centred research. Triangulation was used in data collection by the use of questionnaires, interviews and critical incidents technique. The participants of the research included legal academics, legal practitioners such as state lawyers, prosecutors and private lawyers, law librarians, legal publishers and legal database producers in Kuwait. The results showed that a personal collection is the source used most by Kuwaiti legal professionals. The majority did not use electronic sources such as databases and the Internet. A large percentage also did not use law libraries. The majority of academics sought information themselves, whereas the majority of practitioners relied on the assistance of others. The majority of respondents had no training on the use of information sources. The majority also relied on internal communication as a channel for information exchange more than external communication. The majority of respondents scanned between one or two journals, although journals should be among the major information sources for legal professionals. On the other hand, newspapers ranked first for serendipity for both academics and practitioners. New books were ranked as a first source by practitioners for updating information, whereas journals were ranked first for academics. These results showed the information seeking problems of the legal professionals. This led to the development of the interface requirement for the design of a prototype Kuwaiti Legal Information System (KLIS) interface. The aim of the system was to provide relevant and up-to-date information, and links to other information sources and services in order to improve communication channels at both national and international level. The system also sought to be cost-effective. Finally, a heuristic usability evaluation was undertaken by consulting a number of experts on the system's usability and contents. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations for further research and to stakeholders are made.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à un dispositif, particulièrement critiqué à la fin des années 2000 pour son usage exponentiel et pour son indigence en matière de droits : la garde à vue. Loin de la restreindre à sa codification juridique d’acte d’enquête, la garde à vue peut alors être appréhendée comme un instrument désormais privilégié de gestion de la police et de la politique en matière de petite et moyenne délinquance. Mais sous le coup des injonctions européennes, le gouvernement français est contraint de la réformer en avril 2011. Le mis en cause a désormais le droit d’être assisté d’un avocat pendant toute la durée de l’interrogatoire. Avec cette réforme, la garde à vue incarne une tension entre, d’une part, l’intensification de la répression de certaines populations et d’autre part, la reconnaissance de droits nouveaux qui leur sont accordés. À partir d’une enquête mêlant études de débat, ethnographie et questionnaire, l’objet de cette thèse est d’interroger la mise en œuvre et les effets de cette réforme paradoxale sur l’institution policière. La réforme de la garde à vue ne peut pas être appréhendée comme une simple modalité d’action publique. Elle constitue un moment critique de transformation des modalités de relations de l’État aux administrés, complexifiées par l’introduction des avocats en interrogatoire. Les effets de la présence de l’avocat varient, selon les usages qui sont faits de la garde à vue (d’une mesure de contention à un acte d’enquête), liés à la position des agents et des services dans la hiérarchie des prestiges policiers, et selon les propriétés sociales des gardés à vue, des policiers, et des avocats. La rencontre des uns et des autres peut prendre la forme d’une configuration d’alliance, de conflit, de concurrence, selon les différentes variables étudiées. Par l’étude de ces configurations d’interrogatoires, situées et incarnées, nous montrons qu’à chaque type de population est attaché un usage spécifique de la garde à vue. Ainsi, l’entrée par la garde à vue permet plus largement de voir la justice et la gestion des illégalismes par l’État en train de se faire. / This PhD investigates an apparatus that attracted considerable criticism in the late 2000s for being overused and failing to ensure enough rights: garde à vue, which roughly translates as police custody. Far from being only an investigative act, as its legal definition goes, garde à vue increasingly operates as a key instrument for the police and political management of petty crime. To meet the EU’s demands, however, the French government was forced to reform the system in April 2011. Suspects now have the right to receive a lawyer’s assistance during their entire interrogation. The reform of garde à vue reflects a tension between the intensifying repression of specific populations and the recognition of new rights granted to them. Drawing on the study of debates, ethnographic material and a questionnaire, this research examines the implementation and the effects of this paradoxical reform on the police institution.The reform of garde à vue cannot be approached simply as a public policy shift. Beyond that, it constitutes a key juncture in the transformations of the relationships between the State and citizens resulting from the introduction of lawyers during the interrogations. Effects of the lawyer’s presence vary according to the uses of garde à vue (from a measure of restraint to an investigative act), which relate to the position of agents and departments in the hierarchy of police prestige, and the social properties of suspects, members of the police and lawyers. The interactions between these protagonists may be characterized by configurations of alliance, conflict or competition depending on the above variables. Through the situated, embodied analysis of these configurations of interrogation, I show that a distinct use of garde à vue corresponds to each type of population. The focus on police custody ultimately yields broader insights into justice and the State’s management of illegalisms in the making.