Abstract
This study examines guardianship hearings for the aged as socio-legal encounters. The legal encounter is similar to the encounter as Goffman (1961) describes it in the following ways: it is an event bounded in time and space; and, it involves the temporary formation, and then dissolution, of a “we” in action. This study demonstrates that the legal encounter differs from the encounter that Goffman describes in the following ways: it is structurally constrained by guardianship law; it has a “prep-period,” suggesting that boundaries may be more stagelike than absolute; and the legal encounter does not operate as a fully consensual gathering. Analysis focuses on the structure of, and the interaction within the hearing, as both affect the adjudication process and the elderly proposed ward. Implications for legal representation of the elderly client are probed in the context of the guardianship hearing as focused encounter.
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