Table of Contents: List of tables page xiii
List of figures xv
List of abbreviations xvii
Acknowledgments xix
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Book structure 5
1.2 Findings and recurrent themes 8
Parallel worlds’ theme findings 9
Lawyers’ reconceptualization theme findings 17
Gender theme findings 22
1.3 Methodology 26
2 Great misconceptions or disparate perceptions of
plaintiffs’ litigation aims? 33
2.1 Lawyers’ comprehensions of plaintiffs’ litigation aims –
group differences 36
Physician lawyers: It’s only about money 36
Hospital lawyers: It’s mostly about money 38
Plaintiff lawyers: It’s mostly about money, but also other
issues 39
2.2 Plaintiffs: “It’s not about the money! It’s about principles” 42
2.3 Case studies: Parallel worlds of understanding the
meaning of litigated cases 46
2.4 System conditioning, dispute transformation, and
principles intermeshed with money 51
2.5 Gender differentiations 58
Female lawyers’ extralegal sensitivity 58
Female plaintiffs’ compensatory unease 60
2.6 Chapter conclusion 61
3 The voluntary versus mandatory mediation divide 65
3.1 Lawyers’ world – mandatory versus voluntary mediation
divide 68
Negative lawyer attitudes 72
Underlying meaning of lawyers’ mandatory – voluntary
mediation preferences 75
3.2 Parties’ world – no mandatory versus voluntary divide 77
Just a stage in the litigation process 77
Same positive attitudes – same eagerness 78
Same overall understandings, expectations, intentions,
and needs 79
3.3 Chapter conclusion 82
4 Consequences of power: Legal actors versus
disputants on defendants’ attendance at mediation 86
4.1 The attendance arbiters 88
Lawyers’ experiences with defendants at mediation 89
4.2 Professionals’ reasoning on defendants’ attendance 91
Physician lawyers 94
Hospital lawyers 96
Plaintiff lawyers 97
Analysis of lawyers’ views 99
Mediators 101
4.3 Facing opponents: Disputants ascribe common meaning
to case resolution 104
Defending doctors’ views on attending mediation 105
Plaintiffs on defendants’ mediation attendance 109
4.4 Gender disparities 119
Professionals’ gender disparities 119
Parties’ gender disparities 120
4.5 Chapter conclusion 125
5 Actors’ mediation objectives: How lawyers versus
parties plan to resolve their cases short of trial 129
5.1 Legal actors’ mediation objectives 131
Physician lawyers 132
Hospital lawyers 134
Plaintiff lawyers 135
Lawyers’ gender divisions 139
5.2 Disputants’ mediation aims 141
Plaintiffs’ mediation aims 142
Plaintiffs’ gender differences 145
Defendant physicians’ mediation objectives 149
5.3 The confidentiality premise 150
5.4 Chapter conclusion 153
6 Perceptions during mediations 156
6.1 Mediation’s contextual worlds: Confrontations and
representations 158
Legal actors’ confrontations 158
Conflicts between legal and lay actors 159
Representations 161
Surface findings 163
6.2 Favored and disfavored mediation elements – legal actors 165
Favored elements 165
Objectionables 171
6.3 Favored and disfavored mediation elements – disputants 172
Favored elements 173
Objectionables 176
6.4 Gender disparities 181
Legal actors 181
Plaintiffs 184
6.5 Chapter conclusion 193
7 Parallel views on mediators and styles 197
7.1 Contextual realities and surface findings 199
7.2 The legal evaluative world on style 204
The importance of background 205
The significance of style 207
7.3 The extralegal facilitative world on style 212
7.4 Gendered mediator experiences 217
Overpowered female facilitative mediators 217
Mediators and female plaintiffs 220
7.5 Chapter conclusion 223
8 Conclusion: The parallel understandings and
perceptions in case processing and mediation 226
8.1 Parallel lay versus legal worlds of understanding and
meaning in case processing and mediation 228
Litigation aims and mediation objectives 229
Mandatory versus voluntary mediations 230
Defendants’ attendance and the meaning of mediation 231
Mediation perceptions and assessments 231
Mediators and their styles 232
8.2 The reconceptualization of legal actors 234
The literature 236
8.3 Parallel worlds’ findings – macro-meanings 238
The formal versus informal justice debates 240
The role of the legal system 241
The role of lawyers 242
8.4 Gendered parallel worlds 245
Extralegal sensitivity of female lawyers 245
Disempowered female plaintiffs 248
8.5 Practical application of the findings 252
8.6 Recommendations for future research 254
Bibliography 257
Index 281