AULA 07 Fontainha New - Cultural - Frontiers

The French judicial public competitive examination, the
candidates and their files: construction and selfconstruction in

nonfacetoface interaction.
Fernando Fontainha
CAPES/Ministry of Education - Brazil researcher
Email: fontainha.fernando@gmail.com
Abstract
The paper intent to reveal the results of a qualitative approach towards 750 (seven hundred and fifty) files
of candidates to the 2007 French Judicial public competitive examination. During three weeks in June 2008
those files were carefully read in the French National Magistracy School's (cole Nationale de la
Magistrature) Competitive examination Division (Service Concours) in the city of Bordeaux. The research
interest for those documents is due to the fact that the candidates count or seem to count that the files
produced by them are going to be read by someone involved and responsible to the selection process
specially a jury member and somehow they can mobilize resources in their favour. The analysis confirmed
that even if the rules about the file producing are clear and strict, the candidates find some ways to
overload their document registry. Through documents as the set of diplomas and the police's morality
inquiry (enqute de moralit) the candidates tried to fit in what they though to be the model-candidate or
the jury's expected candidate. By sending more diplomas than requested those with good or very
good mentions of course and informing the police about their professional motivations the candidates
were building a self to compete, to win. Those documents revealed an important aspect of the competitive
examination and perhaps of the law world too: the non-presence form of communication, the written
interaction.
Key Words: Written Interaction, Resource Mobilisation, Evaluation
1. Introduction
In this paper I discuss the results of archival research at the National Magistracy School, in
Bordeaux, France. As part of my PhD thesis, I analyzed 750 candidature files for the French
magistracy's public competitive examination. The article has two main sections: in the first part I
will discuss the fieldwork; in the second part the framework.
Starting with a detailed description first of the fieldwork itself and then of then the files, I will
demonstrate how the candidates used two major strategies to convey information trough their files:
the documents attached to the admission request and the police morality inquiry. In the second part
118 TheFrenchjudicialpubliccompetitiveexamination,thecandidatesandtheirfiles:constructionand
selfconstructioninnonfacetofaceinteraction.
I will try to build a dialogue between my sample and Goffman's strategic interaction scheme and
Garfinkel's ethnomethodology analysis.
PART ONE: FIELDWORK
The first part of this paper is dedicated to the description of the fieldwork, and also a description
of the field itself. How did I obtain access to the field? Why I did decide to work in this paper
only with the data collected in archives? What kinds of archives were searched? What was I looking
for? What did I find? How was the data collected: what were its properties and structure. Above all,
I consider the demonstration of how archives are produced due to a specific social context and how
such documents can be useful in making a social environment describable.
2. A PhD candidate in Bordeaux: looking for files
This paper is a step towards the comprehension of the French judges selection model: the public
competitive examination1. In this article I will analyse part of a larger research project and data
pool
within the same subject: my PhD thesis. After focusing on groups, interviews and
observations, I decided to go to the ENM2 and search for files, especially those concerning the
competitive examination candidates. After a four-month negotiation with Mr. Phillipe Astruc3
ENM's Director for Initial Formation and Recruitment I was authorized to consult candidates
files inside ENM's competitive examination division4, a restricted area, during three weeks in June
2008. During the research period, I was present from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; I sought to maximize
my immersion by having lunch everyday in ENM's restaurant, talking to the staff and the students
and even trying to take my breaks at the same time and place as they did. However, most of the
time I was collecting data from the files, on the third floor, using my laptop. As those documents
were classified as personal files, I signed a confidentiality pact with ENM: I cannot reveal the
personal identities of the candidates whose files I consulted. This paper aims to analyse qualitative
data collected from 750 candidate files of the 2007 competitive examination, examined in
alphabetical order.
Many French researchers have gone to the ENM to obtain data about judges. However, they
1
2
3
I am interested in what is called in France the First Competitive examination, taken by young students beginning
their professional life.
cole Nationale de la Magistrature .
I would like to address special thanks to Mister Phillipe Astruc, his secretary Madame Martine Duplessy and
Madame Magali Gai and her staff chief clerk, responsible for ENM's competitive examination division who
opened for me each and every door and made this article possible.
Service Concours .
Fernando Fontainha 2010
New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) ISSN: 2218-077X
TheFrenchjudicialpubliccompetitiveexamination,thecandidatesandtheirfiles:constructionand 119
were most interested in those who passed and became auditeurs de justice, the title given to
apprentice judges., in order to establish the typical profile of the French judge. Anne Boigeol,
in her research report, entitled how do we become a magistrate? , distributed a questionnaire to
three successive intake classes of justice's auditors: 1986, 1987 and 1988 (Boigeol, 1991, p. 5-6).
Jean-Luc Bodiguel, in his book about the body of magistrates , cites many official statistics and
public rapports in the chapters about professional exam and the ENM (Bodiguel, 1991, p. 196-201).
Louis Naud Pierre, as a Master student in Bordeaux University, dedicated his thesis to the analysis
of three intake classes of justice's auditors: 1997, 1998 and 1999 (Pierre, 1999, p. 10-11), using fifty
non-directive interviews. Violaine Roussel, to create a database about thee social and geographical
origins, and the scholarly and professional trajectory of magistrates involved in political affairs ,
evaluated more than 3000 administrative and information sheets that the justice's auditors fill out
after they are approved in the competitive examination, covering the period between 1977 and 1992
(Roussel, 2002, p. 305-306).
The principal weakness of these studies, from my point of view, is their shared premise that a
study of only the successful candidates in a competitive examination can explain the selection
system. A classical speech about the magistracy's body always begins with the distinction
between insiders and outsiders, leaving aside those who stand in the middle. In addition, I
seek to understand the position and identity of the defeated and rejected candidates. This is a
relatively new research strategy with respect to this subject. In this article I will try to explain the
outcome of the competitive examination by its process, and not the contrary.
2.1 The structure of a candidature file
In France, the production of institutional documents is a subject of extreme care and follows
specific patterns and standards. The majority of the files in France are similar: one hard and colored
A3 format sheet, folded in half, with some indications in the front and several papers inside,
arranged in order to give the reader a sense. My files were not different. Here I will describe in
detail the basic structure of a candidates file. Each element will be displayed in order, as if the
reader was passing page after page.
a) A green hard A3 sheet folded in half, as a front page. In the front is written the
candidate's name, where he did the written exams (e.g.: Paris), the indication First
Access Competitive examination to the National Magistracy's School, session of 2007
and a stamp indicating his situation (rejected, renounced, inadmissible, admissible or
admitted). In the back is only the candidate's stapled 3x4 photo;
b) A sheet with the compilation of all grades obtained by the candidate and his final result;
New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) DOI : 10.4425/2218-077X.1-9
c) A so called individual sheet, containing a summary of the candidate's personal

information;
d) The written exams themselves (general culture, synthesis note, civil law and public law
or criminal law) without any correction comment, just the grade on a scale of 20 points;
e) A so called control sheet, with a list of formal requirements to accomplish, each one
followed by a yes or no marked in pen;
f) The admission request, filled out by the candidate, with information such as name,
address, parents address, civil status and obtained diplomas;
g) Copy of the identity card and military certificate;
h) Copy of academic diplomas, transcripts of secondary and university grades
i) The police morality inquiry
j) The final visa of the public attorney, formally authorizing the candidature.
Evidently, this is the description of a model-file, in order to give a general idea of my sample's
patterns and standards. In specific cases other documents may be present, such as copies of
convocation letters to the oral examination or the sport and language exams, for those who passed
the written phase. However, not only the administration can produce pieces inside of those files, so
can the candidates! This will be the subject of the next section and the focus of our interest.
2.2
What was found (or what I found...)
Inside those 750 files I found a very ordinary sample, one not significantly different from those
described in official statistics or previous academic works about that population's profile. With
respect to gender (see Graph 1 below), there was 118 men (16%) and 632 women (84%). With
respect to the final result in the competitive examination (see Graph 2 below), there were 375 files
marked inadmissible (50%), 153 absents (20%), 139 admitted (19%), 67 were admissible (9%), 8
dossiers were rejected for technical reasons (1%) and 8 withdrawals (1%)5. With respect to civil
status (see Graph 3 below), there were 704 singles (94%), 19 living in concubinage, 15 married, 7
pacsed6, 4 candidates who declared themselves in free unions or marital sitation, and one
single parent. With respect to children, finaly, (see Graph 4 below), there were 738 with no
children (98%) and 12 with children (2%). The only great deviance to that general result was one
5
I must explain these terms. Inadmissible is someone that was present for at least one of the written exams, but
didn't achieve the grades to pass to the next phase. Absent is someone who was absent for all of the written exams.
Admitted is someone who actually passed the competitive examination. An admissible candidate is when someone
achieve the necessary grades in written exams but is not ranked sufficiently high in oral, sport and language exams.
Rejected is someone who is formally forbidden to pass the competitive examination (I saw only in-met deadlines and
criminal backgrounds). And finally a renounce is when someone is absent to the four written exams, but call ENM
before to inform it.
6
In France the PACS is a civil union contract.
candidate born in the sixties with four children, accepted under special conditions.
My first intention towards those archives was to create a quantitative database comparable to
other qualitative data I have already collected. However, to my surprise, inside those files I
discovered information that I considered of higher importance to the research of the competitive
examination process itself:: candidates building their own files. My next section is dedicated to that
subject.
3.
Candidates building their own files

Liora Isral, in the methodological appendix of her book about the advocates and judges
resistance during World War 2, spoke about the sociological character of archival research,
opposing factual information and elements allowing the researcher to specify particular social
conditions (Isrel, 2005, p. 432). A deep dive into social theory is not needed to begin the basic
description of the production and development conditions of those files. For now, I will concentrate
on practical conditions: how are those files created? The process is quite simple. First, each
potential candidate can pick up an admission request, available in any French Court of Appeals
Then, he must fill in the form and, with all the necessary documents, send it to the Public
Attorney. After that, the local (closest to the candidate's residence) police are called on to enquire
about the candidate's morality, a common practice in France for those seeking public
employment. Once all formal requests are accomplished and it is determined that the candidate has
no criminal background, the ENM's competitive examination division is responsible for the file, its
guardian and administrator, performing every formal act under the protection of confidentiality. It
will try to build an institutional sense, telling each candidate's story under the competitive
examination. The candidates can have access to their files (only their personal file) and even make
copies. To do this requires a prior appointment and must be done inside the ENM main building, in
the city of Bordeaux. All the files are classified by year. Those candidates who pass the competitive
examination have their candidacy files converted into functional files; for them, the competitive
examination is just the beginning of their ENM story. The other ones are placed in ENM's
basement, a locked, cold and large hall, with many other archives. For safety, the competitive
examination division staff keeps a one-year set of archives with them in the third floor. That was
my luck! In June 2008 the 2007 files were there, all of them. Those of 2006 have already departed
and those of 2008 were being examined.
Perhaps I have not mentioned the most important part of those files path: the oral exams. During
the oral exams the files are sent to the jury. So, at the very moment when each candidate presents
himself in front of the jurors7, these can simply pick up the file and acquire whatever information
they find inside. This is a known fact, and the candidates count on it8. Based on this fact, a striking
work hypothesis occurred me: the candidates could try to be their own storyteller, to build their
own files. It quickly became evident to me that they actually explored the two main opportunities
to do this: the documents attached to the admission request (especially those related to academic
life) and the police morality inquiry. These strategies will be discussed in the next two topics.
3.1 Police inquiries and the French notion of morality
While I was observing the Grand Oral in Paris, I concluded that not the candidate's file was
always consulted, just sometimes9, and not even the majority of them. It is a fact that chance is one
of the main elements in human relations. But when humans are involved in competition-like
relations, chance and luck become crucial. To be the subject of a police morality inquiry in France
is also a question of luck to a public employ candidate. As said by Goffman about fateful situations,
In daily life, risks and opportunities usually occur together, and in all combinations (Goffman,
1967, p. 152). I intent to demonstrate how chance by itself is insufficient but offers interesting
opportunities for the candidates, and how some of them profit from it, specially in situations where
morality is a police affair.
One and the main phase of a candidatures formal validation is the police morality inquiry.
The documents I have analyzed show that it happens in this way: a police service receives the name
of someone and is asked to attest to his morality. Now I will describe how morality gains
objectivity in France. The first step is simply to type the person's name into a database of criminal
background10. If nothing is found, the inquiry starts by a standard phrase: unknown to the police
and gendarme services, or sometimes never attracted our attention in unfavorable way.
Otherwise, if the candidate does, in fact, have a criminal record, the police search for all documents
that proves it (including mainly the copy of the criminal procedure) and sends these to ENM with
some comments. The candidate is immediately rejected. I will transcribe11 parts of morality
inquiries where I could observe it:
...was involved in a fight, in a state of public drunkenness... on the night of his arrest...
showed aggression to the hospital staff, shouting and refusing to blow into the ethylometer ;
7
I'm talking about the heaviest exam: the General Culture oral exam, the Grand Oral , a thirty minute
presentation in front of a jury composed of two judges, two law professors and a member of the State Council.
8
I will not consider in this paper that they can count also with the passing possibility, when those informations
become informations for life , gaining another strategic properties, related to the career.
9
Of course that I could even perceive specific strategies performed by some candidates in order to force the
juror to look for more information without asking for it, but it's a subject for another article.
10
The documents made me believe that it's a digital and unified database.
11
In this article the data presentation method will be the transcription of archives parts, what can become boring and
repetitive, but extremely necessary.
operated a vehicle under the influence of alcohol (in this case I could see the criminal
procedure's copy: the individual was condemned to pay a fine of 350 euros plus 3 months of driver's
licence suspension);
Illegal drug possession for personal use. Criminal procedure for drug traffic against
XXX12 ex-XXXfriend (condemned) ;
XXX stole two Ralph Laurent jackets (258 euros) (in this case the candidate formally
appealed to the competitive examination's president, claiming to have been a victim of racism by
the arresting policemen.. The appeal was rejected).
Those people were excluded from the competitive examination, and also lose permanently the
possibility of becoming a judge. To start proving that this procedure is not guided by technical/legal
issues but by moral (axiological) ones, I transcribe the following case:
No unfavorable remark... motivated by a desire for success. However, while a minor (14
years old) XXX was condemned for voluntary degradations of private property (fire in a school) .
(In this case there was even a copy of the Civil Procedure in which the candidate's parents were
condemned to pay 7.000 francs of damage reparation).
Technically and legally, minors have special protections, even when they commit criminal acts in
France. In the case above, the candidate was a minor and involved in a civil procedure. Then, why
mentioning it? Why mark this candidate in such a way? Perhaps for the same reason that the
phrase motivated by a desire for success is displayed. How could a policeman inquire about his
will to succeed? That answer leads us to the second phase of a police morality inquiry: the
fieldwork. In some cases, the database research was all that appeared in the inquiries. But, in the
majority of them, other procedures were applied to investigate the candidates morality. There are
no standard procedures, but the most common practices can be described. The policeman can send
the candidate a letter, inviting him to present himself at the police station to be interviewed. The
policeman can call the candidate and interview him by phone. The policeman can, finally, do
fieldwork, visiting and investigating the candidate in his home, or speaking with his parents,
relatives and even neighbors. This is a fateful situation for the candidates, because depending on the
degree of that interaction (with the policeman), they will be able to build their own morality, their
own formal positive labels. With the objectivity of their moral virtues constructed by themselves,
the status of candidates shifts from that of actor with a pre-determined role to play to that of
player acting strategically, a player capable of bending or even creating the rules of the game. My
central hypothesis regarding competitive examination-like situations is that the degree to which a
player profits from chance opportunities will determine the best player.
12
Once the files are classified and I've signed a confidentiality pact with the ENM, all references to the candidate's
personal identity and even their gender will be replaced by XXX .
Alain Bancaud, in his book about the virtues of high-degree magistrates, speaks of moral
exemplary , social discretion and psychological distance and familiar and social
respectability as fundamental marks of judges professional ethics towards private life (Bancaud,
1993, p. 241-250). Indeed, a good player must share those values (especially with members of the
jury) and be aware of how to build an exemplary life story. The transcriptions below confirm that
the moral qualities of a judge's private life announced by Bancaud are correct:
After all, the candidate shows the qualities and responsibilities that the function
demands through XXX father's professional practice, an assises13 judge ;
Neighbourhood: very nice family... a very communicative temper young XXX, a

serious and sociable XXX ;
During the interview XXX made a good impression on me ;
Specifies that the candidate to have an 'orderly' life ;
...after XXX parents divorce XXX chose to stop all relation with his father. He is
appreciated in his neighbourhood, in a calm sector... drives a Renault ;
...appears to have a certain and mature vocation in the magistracy field... appears to be
strongly motivated to enter the ENM and to have high responsibility functions ;
...appears to have order and equity values, respect towards others what appears to be
conformity with the magistracy's functions ;
My acquaintances are mostly other students and people I judge appropriate ;
Have you in your family environment someone already condemned of drug traffic,
treason or terrorism? - No ;
Members of your environment: mommy, daddy, my brothers and my best friend ;
Morality: good. Habits: never came to the police services attention. Acquaintances:
no suspect acquaintances ;
Seems to have good morality ;
Morality research, neighbourhood: XXX and her family seem to have a respectable
life ;
...I made contact with XXX city hall, where the secretary confirmed to me that she
had never heard about XXX ;
presents herself well, good morality. Very determined to succeed in magistracy ;
...she did not mention any political engagement .
I do not intent to discuss the degree of the policemen's complicity, or their possible will to help
13
From the French Cour d'Assises , the Jury.
the candidate. What I have strong reasons to believe by reading the files is that what produces
phrases like presents self well, good morality, or very determined to succeed in magistracy is
human interaction, either face-to-face or by telephone. Besides, those moral qualities are, at least,
known to society, and to policemen. The police inquiry strategy is the main opened door available
to the candidates to explore the possibilities of building their own files. The large majority of data
that will still be displayed in this article came from that source. In the next section I will discuss
other strategies: the documents sent with the admission request form, specifically those concerning
academic career.
3.2
Grades, diplomas and intellectual triumph: the objective merit
Anne Boigeol demonstrates how, during the first half of the twentieth century, the institution of
the public competitive examination as the major method for recruit the French judges brought with
it scholar meritocracy, or scholar legitimacy. The Decree of 18 august 1906 limited the
Minister of Justice's power over French judges selection and advancement, requiring that both
follow professional and academic standards (Boigeol, 198ng9, p. 50).
From age limits to
educational requirements, the early years of the last century saw a multiplication of such initiatives,
such as the institution of bonus points for those with a PhD in 1929. In 1924 the list of admission
began to be displayed in merit order, no longer alphabetically (Boigeol, 1995, p. 30). If morality
can leave formal traces, so can the merit.
By the present rules, there are no objective advantages to someone possessing academic titles or
awards. The only formal requirement is to have a Successfully completed the first year of a Masters
program. If the candidate has a Master 1, he is allowed to participate in the competitive
examination. If not, his candidature is rejected. So, together with the admission form the candidates
must send their Master 1 diploma and academic record. The interesting question emerged when I
discovered that in France all diplomas have a grade: in increasing order: approved, well approved,
good and very good14. So, once obliged to show this label, a far better impression is given by the
very good candidate than the merely approved one. That, at least is the candidates account.
Based on this accountability, I could perceive a very interesting strategy to demonstrate merit: once
not forbidden to show more documents than the necessary, some candidates chose to send much
more than the Master 1 diploma. Depending on the diploma's grade or the university's prestige,
some candidates sent documents not requested two of them indeed even sent school reports with
teacher's remarks, like very good semester, congratulations or nice performance. Just before
university, French students undergo the baccalaurat exam. Many candidates sent their
14
Passable , Assez Bien , Bien and Trs Bien .
certificates, often with high gradess. Even the police morality inquiry was used as a vehicle to build
that career of academic excellence. One inquiry mentioned the title of the candidate's PhD thesis,
the institution and the director's name. Three candidates gave their curriculum vitae to the
policeman, and I found them stapled to the inquiry. Other examples are transcribed below:
I just passed the BAR exam and the Regional Administration competitive examination
but I'd prefer to succeed the ENM competitive examination .
...serious student who obtained a scholarship thanks to his 'very good' baccalaurat
grade. This scholarship is conditional on his success in the ENM preparation exams .
Normalienne15 student and prepare a master degree .
Law PhD, Paris 2 University junior professor .
Was a brilliant and very serious student at school .
Even involved in a competitive examination where the virtual objective is selection according to
knowledge and intellectual performance, many candidates used all opportunities to show
themselves in a favourable light, building for themselves a triumphal path. Into their account, the
label of intellectual merit could add some points to the candidature. What impressed me the most
was the fact that the alternative use of those institutional instruments (the admission form and the
morality inquiry) was not isolated strategy but organized practice. That means that not a violent
social structure but complex chains of human interactions will transform actors into players.
PART TWO: A FRAMEWORK
In Part One I aimed to give a precise description of the field, the fieldwork and the sample. Also
demonstrate how in which social conditions the data were produced and in what way I decided
to use it. Three main hypothesis will guide this Part Two: (1) in competitive examination-like
situations one of the competitors main qualities is the capacity to explore each and every
opportunity, even creating it by bending or inventing new rules; (2) a dialectic-interactive game of
anticipation is played once an account must be established between self-expression and expectation;
and (3) this accountability, demonstrated by the static register of archive research, can show indeed
how lawyers mobilize cognitive resources, building their social world.
The key point of my data analysis method is the consideration of the interaction context of this
documents production, which is an important dimension of content analysis, as affirmed by
Krippendorff:
Analytical constructs for verbal exchanges recognizes the interactive meanings of the assertions. Texts are
15
In France the cole Normale Suprieure is one of the most respected institutes in human sciences. Their
students or ex-students are called the normaliens .
partitioned into turns of talk or similar units of text, such as e-mail messages, public performances, or even
political events. These are sequenced so that each unit of text is seen as someone's response to another's unit of
text. In conversations, inferences from texts stays within a conversation and concern the possible responses that
the unit of text entail. Most important, each such unit is seen as expanding or constraining the space of possible
continuations of the participants of that conversation. (2004, p. 183).
By assuming that (1) the candidates have a large margin for maneuver in the production of the
documents in their files and (2) they count on the fact that those files are going to be accessed by
the jury members, we can treat their documentary content as the cognitive bridge that links the
candidates with the sense that they can attribute to their role in the competitive examination itself: a
strategic to convey social and personal information. In other words, the strategic character of the
content of those files is the key to its analysis.
4.
Interacting through documents, not actors but players

Jean-Luc Bodiguel affirmed: The success of a training program frequently depends on the
profile of those submitted to it. So, a double question stands: who does the competitive examination
recruit? Do the competitive examinations modalities allow selecting the desired profile?
(Bodiguel, 1991, p. 207). Bodiguel's normative and almost naive question deals with the profile
(even desired profile) as a matter of public policy. His question cannot be answered out of the
actual framework that considers the concrete individuals and their interactions building the public
competitive examination as a social situation, not as part of an institutional mechanic. Among all
social actors we can consider in ENM's admission competitive examination (the members of the
jury, the ENM staff, the Minister of Justice, the French citizens) the one with the most at stake is
the candidate. For him to put himself into that sort situation is above all a great risk (due to the high
level of competition, as will be shown later) but also carries a great potential reward (the possibility
of a stable, well paid, important and lifetime career). Almost all situations in daily life bring to
individuals a certain dose of risk and reward, as well as reputational implications. But in a public
competitive examination, only the players are the candidates. In consequence, they will build it as a
game-like social situation, giving to it a social and sociological sense.
If we consider that the product of ENM's public competitive examination is the result of an
interaction between candidates and the jury, the candidacy files are much less important than other
vehicles of interpersonal relations like the written and oral exams. However, this archive research
can show not only that the candidates actually take control of that social space but also how they do
it.
4.1 Strategy and document production: credit and impression control

Goffman affirms that Any contact that a party has with an individual, whether face-to-face or
mediated by devices such as the mail, will give the party access to expression (Goffman, 1969, p.
5) so, when information becomes strategic, expression games occur (Goffman, 1969, p. 10). Control
of the information flow is perhaps the slight difference between good and bad players. Even to get
to this point, candidates must display mastery of all of the prior steps.
I do not intent to say that their success is conditioned to the ability to build a file. For example:
there are some rules we simply cannot bend, that perhaps exist just to eliminate false players, for
instance the deadline. Three candidates sent the candidacy file one day after the deadline. One
candidate sent the candidacy file eighteen days after the deadline. There can be even players who
quit the game before the end (even if that implies a high loss, since once one can present himself
only three times to the ENM competitive examination). One candidate turned in a blank Criminal
Law exam, one a Civil Law exam, one left the Criminal Law and Synthesis Note blank, one left the
General Culture and Synthesis Note exams blank and one left the General Culture Exam blank and
was absent from the other three exams. Other more refined rules are there also to be respected, like
maintaining anonymity in the written exams. One candidate who broke that rule earned the
interesting label of a yellow post-it over his exam saying Anonymity Break and was
excluded from the competitive examination. Other labels can be added to a candidate's file, like the
one who had a handicap, and then the right to an additional one third of time authorisation to do the
written exams. This was noted on the front page the phrase: HANDICAP Request for one-third
additional time .
Despite all the non, fake, bad and almost players, the largest part of our sample seemed to be
aware that they must to control the production of information about themselves. To build a self
through documentation is basically to control the possibilities and limits of enlarging the frontier
between actual and virtual identity. Candidates know that the members of the jury (like the
policemen and ENM staff) possess tools to investigate and test the conveyed information, and the
amplitude of those tools. In the next section I will demonstrate how that complex social
accountability will materialize itself into the cognitive capacity to create symbols to convey social
and personal information.
4.2 The self through documents: symbols conveying social information
Goffman's, in his Stigma, devoted a chapter to social social information (Goffman, 1963, p. 73104). The author assumes that, while interacting, actor and subject are involved in an information
dynamic, and that the quality of that interaction will vary according to the degree of access that each
has to the others information. There are two basic sorts of information: social information and
personal information, which lead us to the concepts of social identity and personal identity.
Goffman does not conceive his schema on a static way, but dynamically. Two dynamics are
involved in the informational implications of human interaction. First, the parties involved can
convey information about themselves, considering what they suppose to be the other normative
expectation about themselves (of course there are very complex borders; one can postpone
perception of religion and political beliefs, but not of skin colour). Second, the persons involved
have a degree of access to other sources of information about each other, which can be more or less
anticipated and calculated. The social artefact that one uses to convey information and produce
identity is called a symbol, and the conveyed information a label. The important consequence of
that scheme is that we can talk about two kinds of identity: a real identity and a virtual one. And, as
already said, when information becomes strategic expression, games occur. This is especially true
in competitive examination-like situations, where to lose face can lead to discredit.
In many files, the candidates decided to tell the policemen about their hobbies and free-time
employment. I cannot speculate if they wanted to show how open-minded and talented they are or
what objective reason guided them. What I do want to demonstrate is how they convey information
that apparently does not concern the competitive examination. The police inquiries transcriptions
below can give a general idea of this peculiar strategy:
reading, theatre, music and hang out with friends ;
volunteer work to help Thailand with UNESCO ;
she loves music, cinema, dance and jazz... ;
already travelled to many countries in Europe and USA... each time for about fifteen
days... to be able to meet people and go where the tourists don't go ;
...bike, tennis and swimming ;
...interested in cinema, theatre, tonic gymnastics, athleticism and dance ;
...travel, reading, cinema, theatre, but nowadays she's 100% devoted to ENM's
success ;
...cinema, theatre, music, hand ball and flute ;
...skiing, diving, boating, cinema, reading... ;
...practices classical dance in a high level... ;
...has classical leisure activities like cinema and fencing... ;
She plays the piano... ;
...declares a passion for horse riding and music ;
...follow the news... essential... ;
Declared to us: I live in a maid's bedroom in my parents house but I eat with them ;
without profession to consecrate on the competitive examination... seems to be serious
and mentions a certain cohesion towards society, declaring the importance of that
institution... ;
Currently speaks English and Spanish, has music as a hobby, he plays clarinet ;
His leisure activities are reading, horse riding (since he is a little kid) and swimming ;
He consecrates on studying and rarely hangs out ;
Sportive, he participates in soccer and athleticism .
Every time I picked a new file to examine, it became clearer that the candidates actually expect to
have their conveyed information read by the jury. This gives them a chance to anticipate the general
culture oral exam, where any subject is possible. So, the English and Spanish speaking candidate
might be confronted with a question formulated in one of these languages by a member of the jury.
The high-level dancing candidate could be confronted with a question that, even as a layperson, he
or she must answer with high level of precision. Indeed, those transcriptions reveal more than a
strategy of safety and control to enlarge the distance between virtual and actual identity, they reveal
the candidates strategy to try to turn the jury's attention to a desired subject, legitimating also a
possible I don't know answer on other subjects.
Once speaking of human relations, strategic interaction and fateful social situations, this public
competitive examination become a social space capable of summarizing and radically performing
the sociological interpersonal connexions capable of giving cohesion to what we commonly call
law's world, or even the world of lawyers. The next chapter will be dedicated to the analysis of
those connexions, of those accounts, especially related to the law or the judge's profession.
5.
Lawyers constructing their social world

Marc Loiselle, in his article about law doctrine speech analysis, makes an important distinction
between two aspects: internal and external. The first, internal, is linked to law comprehension; the
second, external, is linked to its explanation (Loiselle, 2000, p. 191). That distinction is useful here
once our game is played among legal insiders: candidates and a (more or less projected) jury. But
here, not only are some insiders more inside than the others, but these others are fighting among
themselves to acquire one important degree of legal insideness . In our social situation, legal
knowledge is also mobilized to show degree of connexion with the desired employment. However,
candidates understanding of law can be measured by other means, like the written and oral exams.
Accordingly, to formally present themselves as law insiders the candidates will mobilize an external
and barely lay knowledge about law itself and the judges profession. Indeed, by expressing their
opinions and desires towards law and the magistracy, they reveal the external legal speech and
knowledge that works pretty well among and, perhaps only, among lawyers: a lay sociology of
law.
About the social distribution of knowledge Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman have already said
that:
I do not share my knowledge equally with all my fellowmen, and there may be some knowledge that I share
with no one. I share my professional expertise with colleagues, but not with my family, and I share with
nobody my knowledge of how to cheat at cards. The social distribution of knowledge of certain elements of
everyday reality can become highly complex and even confusing to the outsider (Berger and Luckman, 1996,
p. 46).
The next two sections are dedicated to the demonstration of how candidates try to show those
accounts, or exhibit the sharing of a common knowledge.
5.1. Competition and social accountability: a public competitive examination
Goffman established fundamental differences between free time (or killed time) and fateful
situations he called action (Goffman, 1967, p. 161-170). When we kill our time we simply
exclude of it all risk and consequentiality. However, in daily life, voluntarily or not, we are
involved in game-like situations. I have already spoken about the risk and consequentiality
characters of the ENM public competitive examination. To illustrate the stakes in this competitive
examination, I compiled into Tab 1 below official ENM data about the annual number of
candidates, compared with the number of those finally admitted, from 1990 to 2007. The average
approval ratio is 18,84, varying from 10,34 to 33,57. This is a difficult competition. To aaccumulate
credit points in such a social situation is never enough. Even if the candidates make use of files to
do that, accountability is already demonstrated , there is another aspect of that use that can be very
interesting: the lay sociology of legal professions, or, the ability to create and convey a speech
about their future occupation, demonstrating a relative knowledge about their desired and thought
future, as the transcriptions below (always from the police inquiries):
16
...ambitions to become a civil jurisdiction judge ;
... want to be instruction16 judge ;
...more interested to the instruction... ;
...to be judge for minors... ;
I want to be a judge for minors ;
I would like to obtain an instruction place ;
In France the Juge d'Intruction is responsible to a part of criminal affairs.
Is interested in a career as an public prosecutor17 and seems to be very motivated ;
He indicates his wish to become judge for minors, instruction judge or even
sentencing judge ;
...wants to become family affairs judge ;
Would like to work at the instruction or as attorney ;
...instruction judge... ;
Would like to work as attorney ;
...always wanted to be judge for minors ;
Her objective is to be a civil judge ;
Passionate about the Criminal Law, wants to be a judge for minors ;
Motivated by the desire to become judge for minors and maybe an attorney ;
Wants to be a judge for minors .
Of course, two main preoccupations must drive our indications: the desire to build a profile,
an identity, or one more label, and the expressions of their accounts towards the French judiciary
career market (what functions are more 'in demand' than others...). The most important thing here is
the use of a lay sociology and the empirical observation of it. A social group can be described as a
social group by the degree of sharing of the same (or very similar) lay sociology., but not the
sharing of institutions or social structural determinations. The demonstration of the sharing capacity
will try to convey the information that the candidate is socially ready to become a judge at least,
in the candidate's judgment.
5.2 Lay sociology and the logic of how to be(come) a judge
Anne Boigeol, speaking of judges habitus, mentions that they build a certain reserve towards the
world, like a refuge in the ivory tower of law . She cites an extract of an interview she had with a
retired judge, who spoke about his father (also judge): My father always considered that the
magistrates must not have relations in order to be protected from all solicitation (Boigeol, 2000, p.
227-228). The law sociologists have always taken that ivory tower of law in very strong terms.
This metaphor can help this study by setting the following scene: hundreds of young lawyers
knocking on that tower's door. A minority of them will enter. An important part of that game is to
know how to select and be selected by the degree of possession of that reserve towards the world.
That reserve goes far beyond being apart, it is a shared way to see the world. The vocation is a
17
In France the magistrates and the public attorneys (the parquet ) are both issue from the ENM and form the very
same career. They can even change from one function to another.
social individual property and not a technical one. The purpose of passing the ENM competitive
examination is to become a judge. The point is: even before passing the competitive examination,
one can demonstrate vocation by conveying information.
Catherine Fillon and her co-authors, while deciding who to interview in their research about how
and why to become a judge in France, decided not to interview law students and candidates to the
competitive examination, believing that they have not yet accomplished their vocation , while it
is still virtual, embryonic (Fillon et al., 2006, p. 201). Later in their research the term vocation is
defined as marked preference for the magistracy's profession, without respect for how ancient or
intense that preference is (Fillon et al., 2006, p. 212). The embryonic character of a competitive
examination candidate's vocation is where the social attributes of that concept can be seen. The
transcriptions below can objectively show the attempts to convey vocation through police inquiries:
I love the children and prefer to judge them with hope that they can abandon the
wrong path... I don't say that the adults can't be 'saved', but...;
...the job could allow him to see many different things all over his career ;
...wants this work by pure vocation... because of the profession's pedagogical side... ;
...wants to join magistracy to participate of society's life and assure it's defence, as well
as to survey the Law's application ;
Motivation: because she is passionate about the profession ;
...I want to join the ENM because of the diversity of roles that are proposed ;
...want to have a judicial formation since childhood ;
The magistracy interests him because of his law training, and his 'intellectual' and
public servant character ;
I like both of the aspects of this profession: to distribute justice and to be close to the
poor people ;
motivated by law's passion and his will to work for the society, specially in justice's
domain ;
...attached to a certain ideal of justice, wants to perform a human and useful job, and by
law's passion ;
...wants to be judge for minors because they are the future of society and to 'care for
the seed' is need ;
The judge prevents before it's too late... motivation since childhood... ;
It's a rich job ;
I want to serve the State, to contribute to justice's work ;
...She is motivated by an acute sense of justice and equity ;
The judge's job doesn't leave space for monotony .

*
In this article I wanted to empirically demonstrate how lawyers use lay sociology of law in the
specific situation of a magistracy's public competitive examination. The chosen field, data filters
and analysis methods, as well as the theoretical approaches were directed to this objective. I tried to
develop a proper sociology (theory, method and research techniques) according to the social space,
actors and situations in question. Harold Garfinkel affirms that:
I have been arguing that a concern for the nature, production, and recognition of reasonable, realistic, and
analysable actions is not the monopoly of philosophers and professional sociologists. Members of a society are
concerned as a matter of course and necessarily with these matters both as features and for the socially
managed production of their everyday affairs. The study of common sense knowledge and common sense
activities consists of treating as problematic phenomena the actual methods whereby members of a society,
doing sociology, lay or professional, make the social structures of everyday activities observable. (Garfinkel,
1967, pp. 75).
This work aims at no definitive conclusions, but seeks to contribute to discussion concerning the
legal profession, perhaps helping to develop new hypothesis fields and data, for a professional
sociology of law.
References
Bancaud, A. (1993). La Haute Magistrature Entre Politique et Sacerdoce: ou le culte des vertues moyennes. Paris:
LGDJ.
Berger, P. and Luckman, T. (1996). The Social Construction of Reality: a treatise in the sociology of knowledge. New
York: Anchor Books.
Bodiguel, J-L. (1991). Les Magistrats un Corps Sans me? Paris: PUF.
Boigeol, A. (1995). 'Les Transformations des Modalits d'Entre Dans la Magistrature: de la ncessit sociale aux
vertus professionnelles', Pouvoirs - Les Juges, 74 (1).
Boigeol, A. (1991). Comment Devient-on Magistrat? Enqute auprs de trois promotions d'auditeurs. Research Report.
Boigeol, A. (1989) 'La Formation des Magistrats: de l'apprentissage sur le tas a l'cole professionnelle', Actes de
Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 76/77.
Boigeol, A. (2000). 'Les Magistrats hors murs', Droit et Socit, 44/45.
Fillon, C; Boninchi, M; and Lecompte, A. (2006) Devenir Juge, pourquoi, comment? Research Report.
Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in Ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Goffman, E. (1963) Stigma. Notes on the management of spoiled identity. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction Ritual: Essays on face-to-face behaviour. New York: Pantheon Books.
Goffman, E. (1969). Strategic Interaction. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Isral, L. (2005). Robes Noires, Annes Ombres: avocats et magistrats en rsistance pendant la Segonde Guerre
mondiale. Paris: Fayard.
Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content analysis: an introduction to its methodology. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Loiselle, M. (2000) L'Analyse du Discours de la Doctrine Juridique: l'articulation des perspectives interne et externe, in:
Bachir, M. (ed.) Les Mthodes au Concret: dmarches, formes de l'exprience et terrains d'investigation en
Science Politique. Paris: PUF.
Pierre, Louis Naud. (1999). L'cole Nationale de la Magistrature et l'Auditeur de Justice. Master Thesis in Sociology:
Bordeaux.
Roussel, V. (2002). Affaire de Juges: les magistrats dans les scandales politiques en France. Paris: La Dcouverte.
GRAPHICS AND TABS

Graphic 1: gender
84%
16%
Men
Woman
Graphic 2: competitive examination situation
50%
1%
1%
19%
20%
9%
Inadmissible
Admittance
Admissible
Absent
Rejected
Renounce
Graphic 3: civil status

94%
1%3%
Pacs
Free
union/Marital
life
2%1%0%
Concubinage
Single parent
Married
Single
Graphic 4: children
98%
2%
No children
Children
Tab 1: Concurrency
Year
Candidates
Places
1990
1551
150
1991
1600
150
1992
1728
120
1993
1992
80
1994
2467
90
1995
2748
120
1996
3270
110
1997
3693
110
1998
4130
141
1999
3665
141
2000
3181
145
2001
3110
192
2002
3048
192
2003
2888
192
2004
2927
192
2005
2482
192
2006
2409
161
2007
2126
123
TOTAL
49015
2601
(Source: ENM)
Ratio
10,34
10,67
14,4
24,9
27,41
22,9
29,73
33,57
29,29
25,99
21,94
16,2
15,88
15,04
15,24
12,93
14,96
17,28
18,84

AULA 07 Fontainha New - Cultural - Frontiers

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The French judicial public competitive examination, the

candidates and their files: construction and selfconstruction in

Key Words: Written Interaction, Resource Mobilisation, Evaluation

Fernando Fontainha 2010

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) ISSN: 2218-077X

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) DOI : 10.4425/2218-077X.1-9

c) A so called individual sheet, containing a summary of the candidate's personal

What was found (or what I found...)

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) ISSN: 2218-077X

Candidates building their own files

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) DOI : 10.4425/2218-077X.1-9

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) ISSN: 2218-077X

XXX12 ex-XXXfriend (condemned) ;

Fernando Fontainha 2010

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) DOI : 10.4425/2218-077X.1-9

Neighbourhood: very nice family... a very communicative temper young XXX, a

During the interview XXX made a good impression on me ;

Specifies that the candidate to have an 'orderly' life ;

My acquaintances are mostly other students and people I judge appropriate ;

Members of your environment: mommy, daddy, my brothers and my best friend ;

Seems to have good morality ;

presents herself well, good morality. Very determined to succeed in magistracy ;

...she did not mention any political engagement .

From the French Cour d'Assises , the Jury.

Fernando Fontainha 2010

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) ISSN: 2218-077X

Grades, diplomas and intellectual triumph: the objective merit

From age limits to

Passable , Assez Bien , Bien and Trs Bien .

Fernando Fontainha 2010

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) DOI : 10.4425/2218-077X.1-9

Fernando Fontainha 2010

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) ISSN: 2218-077X

Interacting through documents, not actors but players

Fernando Fontainha 2010

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) DOI : 10.4425/2218-077X.1-9

4.1 Strategy and document production: credit and impression control

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) ISSN: 2218-077X

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) DOI : 10.4425/2218-077X.1-9

Lawyers constructing their social world

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) ISSN: 2218-077X

...ambitions to become a civil jurisdiction judge ;

... want to be instruction16 judge ;

...more interested to the instruction... ;

...to be judge for minors... ;

I want to be a judge for minors ;

I would like to obtain an instruction place ;

In France the Juge d'Intruction is responsible to a part of criminal affairs.

Fernando Fontainha 2010

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) DOI : 10.4425/2218-077X.1-9

Is interested in a career as an public prosecutor17 and seems to be very motivated ;

...wants to become family affairs judge ;

Would like to work at the instruction or as attorney ;

Would like to work as attorney ;

...always wanted to be judge for minors ;

Her objective is to be a civil judge ;

Passionate about the Criminal Law, wants to be a judge for minors ;

Wants to be a judge for minors .

Fernando Fontainha 2010

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) ISSN: 2218-077X

New Cultural Frontiers 1/1 (2010) DOI : 10.4425/2218-077X.1-9

The judge's job doesn't leave space for monotony .