Being Part of the "Home Team": PERCEPTIONS OF PROFESSIONAL INTERACTIONS WITH OUTSIDER ATTORNEYS

Understanding how attorneys' perceptions of "insider" and "outsider" status affect negotiations is of both theoretical and practical importance for understanding the judicial system. We utilize a comprehensive survey of attorneys from one state to explore views of trustworthiness and negotiations. Overall, as attorneys become more embedded in their in-group, they increasingly report lower trust levels and less effective negotiations with outsiders. These relationships do vary somewhat by the scope and location of the attorney's practice. Our findings provide insight into one possible causal mechanism underlying the "repeat player" advantage; they also suggest new directions for research on case outcomes.