Abstract
LiPs are increasingly prominent players in the social world of the court. There is a growing literature addressing many questions relating to LiPs and this article contributes to that literature, exploring the creation and maintenance of the social role of the LiP. I argue that the high-status actors and those in the inner circle of the social world of the court—the judiciary, lawyers, and court staff—engage in boundary work, defining the role of the LiP. In carrying out this work they shape two roles for the LiP: the vulnerable and the vexatious. Simultaneously they maintain the fiction that the ideal LiP is one who performs the lawyer’s role. This role is neither possible nor desired by the high-status actors; LiPs must remain differentiated. If court reform to address the challenges presented by LiPs is to succeed, it must account for these role dynamics.