Petrigh (2024), “Counseling Oppression”

Angelo Petrigh. “Counseling Oppression.” Boston University Law Review, vol. 104 (2024): 1895-1961.

This article critically examines the role of public defenders in counseling clients within a carceral system, highlighting how the act of legal counseling can simultaneously reinforce systemic oppression and serve as a site for resistance and transformation.

It argues that while defenders often reproduce legal inequities by translating law through a narrow, system-aligned lens, the counseling relationship also offers opportunities for critical engagement, collective knowledge-sharing, and demystification of legal structures.

By embracing the contradictions inherent in their role, public defenders and clients can turn the counseling space into a platform for collaborative resistance against entrenched systems of power.