This paper presents the results of an empirical observation in the Nuclei of the Public Defender Office in the Metropolitan Region of Belém and in the Nuclei in the towns of Marabá and Santarém, in Pará, Brazil. With some modifications, it is inspired by the idea of self-referential systems proposed by Niklas Luhmann. The first-degree observation operationalized through questionnaires aims to analyze the institutional and administrative capacity of the Public Defender Office, starting from a scheme formed by the convergence of various theoretical concepts for observing and grasping public organizations. The second-degree observation is operationalized through semi-structured interviews.
administrative capacity; public legal organization; quality of service; systems theory; reflective autopoiesis
