Ninety-six percent of the pediatricians had previous experience in making a report of suspected child abuse or neglect to child protective services or the police. The pediatricians were equally likely to report positive and negative experiences in the court processing of child maltreatment cases. The most frequently mentioned negative experience was the amount of time required for their participation in the case. The pediatricians who reported this feature of the case were more than twice as likely as pediatricians who did not mention it to not report suspected cases of child maltreatment; however, only 10 percent of the pediatricians indicated that they had "ever" suspected maltreatment and decided not to report it. Seventy-five percent of the pediatricians believed that court is harmful or distressing for the children involved. Future research should address this concern and identify ways to improve the working relationship between the legal system and physicians. Attention should also be given to training physicians in court procedures for child maltreatment cases. The self-administered questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of half of all physicians in North Carolina who listed pediatrics as their primary specialty in the records of the North Carolina Medical Board. Respondents were asked if they had ever decided not to report a suspected case of child maltreatment and why. They were also asked to recall positive or negative experience in court or in interactions with the legal system in connection with a child maltreatment case. 4 tables, 1 figure, and 24 references