Testing Our Faith: Why It Is Important to Study the Complexity of Client Experiences in Family Dispute Resolution

Increasingly across Canada, court-based processes are being recast as forums of ‘last resort’ for family conflict. Studies inviting lawyers to reflect on the success of their collaborative negotiations, mediations, and settlement conferences show optimism—faith that the quality of their clients’ experiences has been more positive, or, at least, less damaging. As researchers, however, we know less about how the parties in the midst of separation and divorce actually experience those processes. The Saskatchewan study described in this article suggests that ‘the inside’ of dispute resolution (DR) processes in family conflict might be as qualitatively painful, negative, and difficult as the inside of court-based ones, and—yet—that people still prefer DR options. Future research needs to explore the emotional complexity of people’s experiences in the justice system. User-focused feedback may test legal professional’s assumptions, making room for authentic acknowledgements of the difficulties and strains which co-exist with the benefits of DR processes. User-focused feedback is also essential to help refine reform agendas in the family law justice arena.