NCJ Number
161068
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1995) Pages: 563-581
Date Published
1995
Length
19 pages
Annotation
Using a national sample of adults with various legal experiences, this study examined the impact of prior legal experiences, general attitudes about lawyers and the legal system, and status characteristics on individuals' perceived likelihood of hiring a lawyer for resolving various personal problems in the future.
Abstract
The survey involved 1,004 adults. The major dependent variable was whether individuals would hire a lawyer if they were involved in various types of personal problems in the future. The particular problems included in the survey were a divorce that involved the payment of spouse support; a divorce that involved child custody; being charged with causing a serious injury to another person in an automobile accident; being seriously injured in an accident in a public building; being arrested for drunk driving; being cheated on home repairs that were already paid for; suffering discrimination at work because of age, race, or sex; involvement in a continuous dispute with a neighbor; being falsely accused of stealing from one's employer; and being charged with $500 in medical bills that the insurance company refused to pay. Persons who had been involved in prior legal disputes, who had more positive attitudes about lawyers, and held more favorable views about the effectiveness of law in resolving conflict reported significantly higher chances of hiring an attorney. Individuals' assessments of their future litigiousness, however, were largely independent of their status characteristics (gender, income, education, and age) and the quality of treatment in their prior legal disputes. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for improving the quality of legal services and for the future use of law as a method of conflict resolution. 2 tables and 31 references