Litigants’ sense of control over complex cases is often an illusion.

Evidence

Some days, when things went well, he’d feel that he really was in control after all, but the next day he’d realize that it had just been an illusion. “It’s like one of those kiddy cars,” he said to Conway. “They give you a steering wheel but it’s not connected to anything. You think you’re in charge, but you’re not.” — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 1183

Categorization

• CANDY: The disconnected toy steering wheel is a perfect elevator-ready metaphor for the illusion of control.
• SEED: An essay on the gap between felt and actual control in professional work — the toy steering wheel as a general model for modern management.
• XREF: Echoes the World of Strangers / urban-order material on how people manufacture competence signals under conditions they cannot actually govern. — connects to: Courts may retroactively invalidate conduct though litigants often dispute it — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 2861; Ad hoc adjudication breaks litigant participation and undermines its legitimacy — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 3312; The adversary system makes litigants the Court’s primary information source. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1535 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The adversary system makes litigants the Court’s primary information source. #exemplifies (1.00) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1535
• Under crushing uncertainty, litigants read chance events as providential signs about their case. #expands (0.95) — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 1345
• Courts may retroactively invalidate conduct though litigants often dispute it #qualifies (0.90) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 2861
• Ad hoc adjudication breaks litigant participation and undermines its legitimacy #complicates (0.85) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 3312