Between ‘i’ and ‘they’: Distributing authorship for evidence-making: how asylum lawyers construct credible accounts before the French court of asylum law
- Social and Legal Studies
- 34(6), Dec, 2025: p.814-831
Lawyers who represent asylum seekers in the French Court (CNDA) face the critical issue of ‘credibility’ on a daily basis. Drawing on legal advice meetings and court hearing sequences, I show how they navigate the tension between applicants’ natural storytelling and the legal framework's demand for consistency. I demonstrate that lawyers possess a ‘professional vision’ that enables them to distribute authorship between the applicants and themselves. On the one hand, the applicant is expected to deliver a genuine account in “I”. But they should also attempt not to defeat judges’ background assumptions. To this end, the lawyer familiarizes their client with this practical “know-how” using suggestion rather than explanation. On the other hand, judges suspiciously address self-identification in typical cases. The lawyer speaking in “they” in their defense speech allows them to rearticulate the applicant's personal reasons into a legal category.- Reproduced