In this episode, I talk about how lawyers are not trained to promote trust, whether it's developing the trust of our clients, gaining the trust of communities or guiding clients to building more trustful relationships with their stakeholders. In understanding trust, lawyers would also benefit from looking at the bigger picture, which means stepping back and appreciating the true nature of risk and the client's appetite for different types of risk

Show notes:

• [0:39] I talk about my favourite book on how lawyers can gain trust from clients, The Trusted Advisor, and the lessons I took away from it, mainly to diminish our focus on self when dealing with clients.
• [3:28] Lawyers aren't seen as an ethical profession, and we suffer from a lack of the community's trust. I mention my view, which I discussed in a Lawyers Weekly podcast late last year, that lawyers need to reduce self-interest.
• [6:48] When it comes to engendering more trust between our clients and their stakeholders, our training fails us, We are trained to warn clients not to trust, to be wary of risk.
• [8:59] Risk, however, is a part of life. Lawyers need to know where our expertise on risk sits within the bigger picture.
• [11:16] Lawyers should understand the area of risk and speak to clients about their specific risk management frameworks.
• [13:00] A more holistic understanding of risk connects back to trust-building skills, 
• [13:45] I give two examples of where clients might trade off taking a higher risk for building more trust - one of eliminating non-competition clauses in employment contracts and another of Atlassian's simplified mergers & acquisitions term sheet.
• [17:08] Lawyers who want to guide clients toward more trustful relationships would gain from learning where clients are prepared to trade risk for trust, what the legal risks are as well as the real-life risks and gains.

To learn more, visit the episode page on the New Earth lawyer website.