Lawyers ethics in parental alienation

Abstract

Much literature exists about parental implications and their effects on victims and societies. Yet, while lawyers are very important stakeholders in parental alienation litigation, very little is written on how lawyers, judges and other court officials should behave during parental alienation litigation. It is not right for a lawyer to be unable to differentiate his/her behaviour between commercial, criminal and family courts. While this may vary from one jurisdiction to another, it is the norm for lawyers to switch from criminal to family law cases in several jurisdictions. Yet even within the family court, one cannot approach property rights like children's well-being. This paper seeks to fill in this lacuna. The first section discusses the notion of parental alienation from a legal context. What is understood by parental alienation in a typical court of law? This may be different from how it is defined in psychological research. The subsequent sections deal with how they represent the alienated or alienating parent. The final part of the paper focuses on the court's ethics and its independent experts.