‘THE PASSENGER DECIDES ON THE DESTINATION AND I DECIDE ON THE ROUTE’: ARE DIVORCE LAWYERS ‘EXPENSIVE CAB DRIVERS?’

1 December 1995

journal article
Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in International Journal of Law, Policy and The Family

Vol. 9 (3) , 286-310
https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/9.3.286

Abstract

This article reports on divorce lawyers' descriptions of their interactions with clients, focusing on three types of decisions common to divorce cases: whether to accept a potential client, whether and how much attention to pay to the client's emotional needs, and how to persuade a client to accept an appropriate case outcome. The lawyers' reports reveal interesting variation in how they approach such decisions. However, most of the lawyers make clear that they do not regard the lawyer-client relationship as one between equals, and they describe a variety of tactics that they employ to maintain control over the client and the case.

Keywords

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