Abstract
This article is a study of the strategic deployment of verbal power in court sponsored child custody mediation based upon three representative cases from the author's extended field study in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. The article applies sociolinguistic theory, especially the concept of "constructed dialogue" to reveal how the way parents speak affects the custodial arrangements they get. Section Two critiques the relevant literature on gender, power and language, and explains the theory of constructed dialogue. Section Three analyzes segments of three cases line-by-line to show how constructed dialogue is used to shift responsibility and blame, and empathetically involve the speaker and hearer in a powerfully persuasive "little play". Section Four explains how the characteristics of constructed dialogue meld with the broader discourse of mediation as a hybrid of law and psychology, creating a risk of power abuse. Section Five proposes a way to counterweight improper power through an analog of the Hearsay Rule adapted to the context and purpose of mediation and suggests ten guidelines for its implementation.
How to Cite
36 Ariz. L. Rev. 879 (1994)
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