The defence lawyering strategy of a defence counsel ‘Maestro’

Lawyers and legal reasoning in authoritarian regimes

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21391088
AutoresAgata Fijalkowski (0000-0001-5204-6631, Leeds Beckett University, autor correspondente)
Ano2026
Volume88
Fascículo2
Páginas39-61
Data de publicação2026-06-30
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoRuch Prawniczy Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0035-9629 • E-ISSN: 2543-9170
EditoraAdam Mickiewicz University Poznan (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.14746/rpeis.2026.88.2.04
OpenAlexW7166742693
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas31

An analysis of the life account of the Polish defence lawyer Stanisław Hejmowski (1900–1969), who made a mark in the first national war crimes trial in 1946 and later in the Poznań June trials of 1956, reminds us of how defence lawyering strategies in high profile cases are born. This paper’s findings draw on his recently discovered private personal archive and case notes, which have hitherto not been in the public domain. The investigation shows that Hejmowski’s line of action exemplifies a strategy through which a civil lawyer may approach large-scale atrocities and crimes – but as a criminal defence lawyer. Through this analysis and a consideration of an unconventional figure we may hope to appreciate what legal reasoning signifies in authoritarian states

Action (physics) · Adversarial system · Authoritarianism · Legal culture · Spanish Civil War · War crime · International Law and Human Rights · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law in Society and Culture