Why trust?

Trust arises in relationships between people. The psychiatrist and neuroscientist Joachim Bauer — whom I know personally — describes trust as something fundamentally precarious. To give trust is to give the other person the freedom to handle it at their own discretion. Trust therefore carries a risk, because it is uncertain how the other person will handle it.

Trust is also more than mere hoping. It rests on the assessment that the other party will handle this freedom responsibly.

Personal exchange

Trust arises in personal exchange. Here it becomes visible whether resonance is possible. This is how one recognises how the other person reacts, listens, and takes a position.

Through conversation, or at least through written exchange, it becomes possible to sense whether one's own expectations are perceived and whether the other party is prepared to act — out of their own conviction — responsibly and in accordance with their own values.

Shared values

According to Bauer, trust presupposes that a shared reality exists between those involved: fundamental values, attitudes, and conceptions determine the shared assessment of appropriate action.

Relevant experience and professional expertise

In legal practice, relevant experience and professional expertise are of great importance. Antoine F. Goetschel's legal perspective has been sharpened through decades of experience in dealing with clients, courts and authorities, and also with the media.

Precisely at a time when decisions are increasingly supported by artificial intelligence — and even taken by it — personal conversation, or at least written correspondence, gains in importance. Trust cannot be automated. It arises where people meet each other, listen, and respond to one another.

Trust and an overlapping set of values form the foundation of a successful and fruitful collaboration. Whether in conversations about family members in inheritance planning and disputes, in tenancy law or in animal welfare law — and also about personal sensitivities and prior histories with other parties: transparency and an open mind help to build trust between client and lawyer.