The Law Society as gate-keeper, supervisor or mentor?

2. The Law Society as gate-keeper,supervisor or mentor? DR. LISA WEBLEY

3. The Study: Overview • This study considered the messages that the Law Society of England and Wales and the UK College of Family Mediators (now College of Mediators) transmit to their members about the professional approach they should adopt in divorce matters. • The study employed a grounded theory method to analyse the training, accreditation, best practice statements and codes of conduct documents generated by the two professional bodies. It examined the extent to which the: • Training; • Accreditation; and • Codes of conduct • of solicitors, specialist family solicitors and family mediators privilege adversarial or consensus based approaches to divorce for their clients. • It aimed to unpack professional identity and/or ethic, professional role, professional approach and mode of dispute settlement. • It also considered the role of the professional body vis-à-vis nascent, qualified and specialist practitioners and the extent to which it appeared that the approach adopted by the College of Mediators has influenced the Law Society’s professional role in relation to its members.

4. Cues sent by the Profession Non-specialist solicitor’s identity is associated with: Mastery of a large body of knowledge Emotionally controlled, distanced and impersonal Outcome orientated problem solver Potentially adversarial Firm, but fair, partisan and pragmatic and ultimately in control Financially and business minded In short, the solicitor is the traditional professional. The Law Society acts as a gate-keeper.

5. Cues sent by the Profession • An accredited family law solicitor begins her professional life by following the persona of the traditional solicitor but then puts on a thin ‘emotionally understanding’ cloak over this identity, obscuring but not obliterating the original traits. • Arealistic negotiator, aims to achieve a fair settlement for the family • Partisan on the one hand while keeping an eye on the collective unit on the other • Default is consensual decision-making between solicitors • Employs a multi-agency approach and is collegial • Able to balance multiple interconnected issues • Emotionally understanding yet sufficiently distanced to be professional • Fundamentally outcome orientated but with the long term consequences of the process in mind • The Law Society acts as a gate-keeper, then a supervisor

6. Cues sent by the Profession • A Law Society trained family mediator is required to wear a thick humanising cloak that all but obscures her original identity, to assist with neutrality. But the family mediator must remain on guard of the need to be non-partisan, and to be a facilitator not a problem-solver. • Emotionally enlightened negotiation facilitator • Resocialised in emotional intelligence! • Decision-making in an emotional (cf. rational) context • An ability to be impartial and facilitative but not necessarily ‘a believer’ • Process rather than a profession • Circumstances under with the Law Society family mediator is required to remove the cloak • The Law Society acts as a supervisor with a minimal mentoring requirement.

7. Cues sent by the Profession • The College of Mediators trained family mediator must have some of the markers of the family mediator identity before being permitted to undertake training. She must then adopt the full identity and maintain it with active adherence to a family mediator’s beliefs and values. • True facilitator • Potential transformer • Inherently impartial • All knowledge is of equal importance • Knowledge transmission very limited, information giver • Flexible, yet process controlling, empathic, and transformative and yet firm • Encourages consensual decision-making • Power balancer but only rarely an intervener as regards the terms of the agreement • The College of Mediators acts as a supervisor with a stronger mentoring role.

8. Conclusions • The Law Society has adopted different roles in relation to non-specialist solicitors, specialist family law solicitors and solicitor family mediators. • Its role in relation to non-specialists is akin to historic conceptions of professional identity. • Its role in relation to specialist family law solicitors is much closer to a supervision model (similar to a medical model) although begins as a gate-keeper role. • Its role in relation to solicitor family mediators is much closer to the College of Mediators’ role as a supervisor and mentor, although its mentoring requirements are more limited than those of the College.