Lay Advisers in Family law Settings: The Role and Quality of Advice Provided on Social media

Abstract

The study explores the quality of advice offered by lay advisers on social media groups and online forums. The focus is on the online advice provision in relation to child-related cases, which are part of private or public family law proceedings in the context of England and Wales. Since many addressees of such advice are self-represented litigants, it is crucial to understand what kind of support is offered by law advisers, whose professional motivation or level of expertise are underexplored. By drawing on content analysis and discourse analysis, the study reflects on the substantive content and linguistic framing of the advice offered online. The article contextualises the role of lay advisers in light of (1) the challenges self-represented litigants experience when accessing the justice system and (2) the growing popularity of using online resources and social platforms for obtaining legal information and advice.

Legal-Lay Discourse and Procedural Justice in Family and County Courts

“…Linguistic research is of special significance to the proceedings in lower courts where accessing legal advice and representation is often problematic for the parties (Maclean and Eekelaar 2019;Moorhead and Sefton 2005;Smith et al 2017;Trinder et al 2014), which leads to them being particularly susceptible to communicative challenges and discursive disadvantages (Grieshofer 2022c;Tkacukova 2016). Much of the influential socio-legal research points to multiple language and communication issues, such as the lack of clear pre-court information, ambiguous instructions and directions in court communication or insufficient communication among statutory agencies (Hunter et al 2020;Trinder et al 2014).…”

“…Baffy and Marsters 2015), litigants leave the court feeling they were not given an opportunity to share their side of the story (Grieshofer 2023b;Hunter et al 2020), and even expert witnesses are not given an opportunity to expand on their testimony (Gray 2010;Hobbs 2003). Consequently, lay people experience attitudinal barriers as they become disengaged from the proceedings and lose trust in the system, especially if they are not given an opportunity to share their story the way they are comfortable with or if they do not feel their perspective is considered or even noted (Grieshofer 2022c;McKeever et al 2018).…”

“…Information provision practices are an integral part of elicitation and narrativisation practices. Yet, court forms, court communication and legal and procedural information are notoriously difficult to engage with (Grieshofer 2022c). This complicates elicitation and narrativisation strategies during pre-court stages if court users cannot understand what is required, and during court hearings if court users fail to complete the pre-court stages (cf.…”

“…There are different types of information court users need to access: legal, procedural, administrative. Unfortunately, court users find it difficult to find the relevant information online or in court guidance documents due to multiple limitations: generic nature of the information, lack of clear cross-referencing to relevant legislation, complex language, exclusion of explanations relevant for SRLs, biased or misleading content (Grieshofer et al 2021;Grieshofer 2023aGrieshofer & 2022c. The HM Courts and Tribunals Service's (HMCTS) slow pace with addressing the issues pertinent to informational justice complicates court users' access to procedural justice (Grieshofer et al 2021).…”

Piloting an International Comparison of Readily Accessible Online English Language Advice Surrounding Responsible Cat Ownership

“…Studies of online advice are increasingly common, covering issues as diverse as legal matters [25], health conditions [26], or job-seeking [27], as well as information on animal welfare such as searches for specific diseases of pets [28]. Research methods include broad internet searches [26], studies of exchanges on social media pages or in online forums [29], and experimental designs [27,30].…”