This chapter outlines this book’s contribution toexisting research on the sociology of the legal profession and cause lawyering in particular. It documents how these areas of scholarship have primarily examined the activities of lawyers within democratic states, whereas our focus is on how lawyers as ‘real people’ responded to the professional challenges of practising law in the difficult circumstances of conflict, authoritarianism, and transition. The chapter then provides a detailed account of the methodology and an overview of the empirical data underpinning the study. It concludes with an overview of the remaining chapters, with reference to key themes such as exceptionalism, agency/legitimacy and memory.

Some accounts of the fiduciary relationship place trust and autonomy at odds with one another, so that trusting a fiduciary to act on one’s behalf reduces one’s ability to be autonomous. In this chapter, we critique this view of the fiduciary relationship (particularly bilateral instances of this relationship) using contemporary work on autonomy and ‘relational autonomy’. Theories of relational autonomy emphasize the role that interpersonal trust and social relationships play in supporting or hampering one’s ability to act autonomously. We argue that fiduciary relationships, understood through the lens of relational autonomy, can provide a means of enhancing, rather than diminishing, beneficiaries’ autonomy.