Adversarialism and Consensus?: The Professions' Construction of Solicitor and Family Mediator Identity and Role

A penetrating study of the divergent messages that the Law Society of England and Wales versus the UK College of Family Mediators subtly transmit to their members about the professional approach to adopt in divorce and custody disputes. Dr. Webley uses a grounded theory method to analyse training, accreditation, best practice statements, and codes of conduct contrasting the two professions -- and their divergent self-identities. Do they promote healing and agreement among divorcing couples, and involvement of the children in decision-making, or adversarial litigation and paternalism? Are their styles traditionally feminine or masculine? From her dissertation Abstract: "The study examines the extent to which the training, accreditation and codes of conduct of family solicitors and family mediators privilege adversarial or consensus based approaches to divorce for their clients, in the light of statements made around the time of the passage of the Family Law Bill, which suggested a dichotomy in professional approach by these two professional groups. It considers further the nature of professional identity for each of the professional groupings, as constructed through the messages delivered by the professional bodies." Part of the Dissertation Series from Quid Pro Books.

Dr. Lisa Webley is a Reader at the University of Westminster School of Law and a Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. She has held visiting positions at Cleveland-Marshall Law School in the U.S. and the U of Technology in Sydney.