Trials of trustworthiness between Ethiopian lawyers and Chinese clients

Abstract

Trials of trustworthiness between Ethiopian lawyers and Chinese clientsLegal representation requires trust. How is trust given and gained in lawyer-client relations that are tainted by mistrust? In this article I examine interactions between Ethiopian lawyers and their Chinese clients to show how both parties mitigate mistrust to enable productive legal representation across radical difference. This process not only involves patience and persistence but also prompts clients to put trust on trial. First, they do so by closely monitoring their lawyers or testing them through choreographed situations of trusting in which the stakes are low or the transfer of trust carefully controlled. Second, by cultivating loyalty and proximity they attempt to further enhance the predictability of the other's future actions to ensure the desired outcome of trust. [trust, lawyers and clients, race, Ethiopia, China] Legal representation is predicated on trusting and trustworthiness. Clients trust lawyers to provide legal guidance and represent them in court. By doing so, they enter into a position of dependence. Few clients give their trust lightly. Trusting is a perilous undertaking, for the act of trusting renders the trust giver vulnerable to deception. Clients usually select a lawyer they think they can trust, while lawyers need to win the trust of their clients. How is trust given and gained in a social environment that is tainted by mistrust? How do lawyers and clients

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“…Navigating the bureaucracy and legal landscape may necessitate the recruitment of trustworthy lawyers (cf. Driessen, 2022). Mediators can also be essential to cope with contingencies that appear along the way.…”

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