ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to identify certain ‘underlying assumptions’ of the criminal defence lawyers’ occupational cultures at the investigative stage of the criminal proceedings in the two examined jurisdictions: England and Wales and the Netherlands. It focuses on the cultural elements which could act as barriers to the practical realisation of the normative view of the role of lawyers at the investigative stage embedded in the respective European regulations. The chapter summarises the rich tradition of research into the occupational cultures of police, whose theoretical underpinnings may contribute to our understanding of the occupational cultures of defence lawyers. The occupational cultures of criminal defence lawyers are under-researched, especially when compared to the research on police cultures. Lawyers’ reluctance to engage with the clients’ emotional or social needs could also be explained by what is described in literature as ‘emotional distancing’ or ‘detachment’ of certain professional workers.
