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Building Trust: Social Capital, Distributive Justice, and Loyalty to the Firm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Fiona M. Kay  and
John Hagan
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Abstract

Trust is essential to successful business relations, particularly to the efficient operation of law firms. Trust fosters productive working relationships, favorable reputations, and a lucrative clientele. This paper contributes to research on law firm development through a consideration of social dynamics within law firms beyond traditional emphases on trading relationships and community solidarity. We introduce a social capital perspective on the evolution of trust and its consequences for commitment to the law firm. We argue that trust, specifically in the form of perceived distributive justice, is created and nurtured through social integration among law firm members. Yet, for women, who continue to be denied full access to these social networks and professional rewards, trust is undermined. Exclusion and emerging distrust prompt women to contemplate leaving their respective firms. This paper examines the bases of differential levels of trust and their impact on lawyers' intentions to leave practice.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , Spring 2003 , pp. 483 - 519
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2003 

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Footnotes

We wish to thank Nancy Dautovich, Chantelle Marlor, and Carolyn Yule for their valuable research assistance. Stephen Baron, Joan Brockman, and Lome Tepperman graciously provided helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper, as did three anonymous reviewers. Nous voudrions remercier le Centre de recherche en droit public, Faculti de droit, Universití de Montréal d'avoir foumi la premiire auteure avec un milieu de recherche productif et encourageant pendant un congé sabbatique. An earlier version of this paper was presented in May 1999 at the thirty-fifth annual meeting of the Law and Society Association in Chicago. The research reported here was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (grant no. 816–96-003) in partnership with the Law Society of Upper Canada, and an Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Research Fellowship to the first author which we gratefully acknowledge. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

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