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What Do Dutch Lawyers Actually Do in Divorce Cases?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2024

John Griffiths
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Abstract

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This paper summarizes the findings of a four-pronged research project concerning the behavior of Dutch divorce lawyers, in which lawyers, judges, and clients were interviewed and lawyer-client interaction directly observed. In the first part, some preliminary remarks are made on the practical and theoretical importance of the actual behavior of divorce lawyers and the existing body of research on lawyer behavior. These are followed by a thumbnail sketch of Dutch divorce law and procedure and the role of the lawyer. The second part gives an overview of our own research findings. In the third part, I present some reflections on the role of lawyers in divorce cases: (1) the character and special place of ‘normative, conflict-oriented intervention’ in divorce conflict; (2) lawyers' objective of a ‘reasonable divorce’ and the nonadversarial approach of lawyers to divorce litigation; (3) lawyers as two-way ‘transformation agents’ between the client and the law; and (4) what lawyers actually do and do not do.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , 1986 , pp. 135 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 by The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

The research discussed here has been carried out by M. Berends, J. Griffiths, E.G.A. Hekman and S. R. Spaak. The conclusions, however, are my own. Apart from my fellow researchers (whose contributions to this text are inseparable from mine), thanks for criticism and other help are owed to A. Heida and A. Klijn.

Various aspects of the research project were made possible by grants from the Dutch Ministry of Justice (Coördinatiecommissie Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Kinderbescherming) and the Nederlands Comité voor de Kinderpostzegels; special resources were also made available by the Faculty of Law of the Rijksuniversiteit, Groningen.

An earlier version of this paper was presented as a lecture at Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, on May 2, 1984. Another version was discussed at an international workshop on lawyer-client interaction held at the Rijksuniversiteit, Groningen, on October 24–27, 1984. This workshop was made possible by a grant from the Netherlands Foundation for Pure Scientific Research, ZWO. Other papers presented at this workshop include M. Cain, “L'Analyse des professionnels du droit: Réflexions théoriques et méthodologiques,” Annates de Vaucresson 23 (1985); A. Sarat and W. Felstiner, “The Client's Lessons: Law in the Divorce Lawyer's Office”, a version of which is included in this issue of the Review.

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