The architecture and furnishings of a law office are calculated theater

Evidence

The three partners found an office on the second floor of an old three-story brick building, a historic landmark near the waterfront, at the corner of Milk and India streets, two blocks from the federal courthouse. Schlichtmann hired one of Boston’s most fashionable interior decorators. The partners put all their earnings from the hotel fire case into renovating and furnishing the office, uncovering the massive oak beams and rebuilding the ancient brick archways. Schlichtmann ordered a large conference room table, made of bird’s-eye maple and stainless steel, from the man who had designed a similar table for the Blue Room of the White House. Surrounding the table were eight chairs of soft, buttery leather, each like a sofa unto itself. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 589

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: staging credibility — how professionals buy status symbols before they can afford the underlying substance, and whether that bluff is a lie or an investment.
• XREF: connects to: Penal law design requires theatrical stagecraft — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 684; Disciplinary space achieves obedience by merging physical layout with value hierarchies — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 228

Broader Connections

• Penal law design requires theatrical stagecraft #exemplifies (0.85) — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 684
• Disciplinary space achieves obedience by merging physical layout with value hierarchies #expands (0.75) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 228