Relational Embeddedness and Socially Motivated Case Screening in the Practice of Law in Rural China
Published date | 01 December 2016 |
DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12235 |
Date | 01 December 2016 |
Relational Embeddedness and Socially Motivated
Case Screening in the Practice of Law in Rural
China
Ke Li
Based on an ethnographic study conducted in rural China, this article demon-
strates that relational embeddedness—that is, concrete and durable relationships
among law practitioners, clients, adversaries, and the surrounding communi-
ties—holds the key to our understandings of the legal profession’s case screen-
ing. Over the past decade, legal services in rural China have been
commodified significantly. Despite that, relationships with extended families,
community members, and local political elites have continued to shape law
practitioners’ professional decision-making. By carefully scrutinizing multi-
plex relationships involved in legal services, law practitioners seek to meet the
practical needs of their personal life, and more importantly, to uphold moral
obligations derived from communal life. Seen in this light, the practice of law
is an integral part of a moral economy in the countryside. Rather than giving
rise to a more progressive form of services, the legal profession’s participation
in this moral economy often reinforces existing power structures in Chinese
society. By introducingthe concept of relational embeddedness into sociolegal
research, this study unpacks the complex consequences of the recent legal
reforms in China; it also enriches our theoretical understandings of related
concepts, such as social capital, networking, and guanxi in the practice of law.
For nearly three decades, there have been heated discussions
in the United States about economic incentives in legal practice.
Researchers generally agree that economic interests play a critical
role in shaping lawyers’ behavior. A telling example in this regard
is lawyers’ practice of case screening. Motivated by self-interest,
lawyers tend to conduct case screening on a rational, cost-
effective basis and seek out cases with high fee potential. This
intentional pursuit of potentially lucrative business is particularly
prevalent among lawyers in private practice (Helland and Tab-
arrok 2003; Johnson Jr. 1980-81; Kritzer 1984, 1987, 1997,
1998, 2001; Kritzer and Krishnan 1999; Kritzer et al. 1985; Van
The research reported in this article was funded through the National Science Founda-
tion (Grant No. 0960759), The Social Science Research Council, Chiang Ching-kuo Foun-
dation for International Scholarly Exchange, and China Times Cultural Foundation. This
article benefited enormously from the comments and suggestions of Ethan Michelson, Bri-
an Steensland, Sara Friedman, Brian Powell, and Philip Parnell.
Please direct all correspondence to Ke Li, Department of Sociology, Framingham State
University, 100 State Street, Framingham,MA 01701; e-mail: kli@framingham.edu.
Law & Society Review, Volume 50, Number 4 (2016)
V
C2016 Law and Society Association. All rights reserved.
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Hoy 1995, 1997, 1999). Economic incentives, however, are rarely
unbounded in legal practice. Rather, they are often mediated by
sociocultural factors, such as lawyers’ sense of responsibility, repu-
tational concerns, desire for professional challenges, political ide-
ologies, and so on (Daniels and Martin 1999; Kim 2009a; Kritzer
and Krishnan 1999; Menkel-Meadow and Meadow 1983; Van
Hoy 1995, 1997; Trautner 2011).
Building on scholarly insights into sociocultural restrictions
on economic incentives in legal services, this study brings to the
fore the effects of relational embeddedness on the legal profession’s
practice of case screening. By “relational embeddedness,” I refer
to concrete and durable relationships among law practitioners,
clients, adversaries, and the communities these individuals inhab-
it. Using data retrieved from more than 17 months of ethno-
graphic research in rural China, I demonstrate that relational
embeddedness holds the key to our understandings of the legal
profession’s decision-making in the case screening process. Over
the past decade, legal services in rural China have been commod-
ified to the extent that law practitioners usually select cases on
the basis of perceived payoff. The commodification of legal serv-
ices, however, has not yet shaken up the primacy of relational
embeddedness in the practice of law. Rather, law practitioners’
relationships with extended families, community members, and
political elites have crucial bearing on their decision-making at
the workplace. Within this context, decisions as to whether one
extends or withholds legal services from disputants hinge on not
only perceived payoff, but also current and future ties with cli-
ents, adversaries, and the nearby communities. By meticulously
scrutinizing multiplex relationships involved in legal services, law
practitioners seek to meet the practical needs of their personal
life. They also do so in hopes of upholding important moral obli-
gations toward family, community, and the local state. In that
sense, the legal profession’s case screening is not only economical-
ly but also socially motivated.
On two distinct fronts, the findings described above add new
depth to our knowledge of legal services in rural China and
beyond. One, by introducing the concept of relational embeddedness
into sociolegal research, this study invites careful reflections on
conventional wisdom about the ramifications of social connected-
ness in the practice of law. The past decades have witnessed the
rise of a burgeoning scholarship highlighting the paramount
importance of social connectedness in legal practice in the United
States, China, and elsewhere. Conceptions such as social capital,
networking, and guanxi (i.e., the Chinese term for direct and
indirect connections between social actors) have made deep
inroads into the research on legal professions, and, in turn,
Li 921
greatly enriched our understandings of the embedded nature of
legal practice vis-
a-vis the state, the market, local communities,
and international society.
1
Rich and sophisticated as this scholar-
ship is, it often features a lopsided focus on the bright side of
social relationships, and particularly, the positive impacts on the
development of legal careers. The dark side of social connected-
ness—that is, the negative consequences resulting from law prac-
titioners’ embeddedness in multiplex social relationships—has
remained understudied (Dinovitzer 2006). In light of this prob-
lem, this study closely examines the case of legal services in rural
China with the intention to illuminate not only the positive but
also the negative effects of law practitioners’ efforts to cultivate
ties with various social actors. In so doing, I call for greater schol-
arly attention to the divergent outcomes of the embedded nature
of legal practice.
Second, by foregrounding the primacy of relational embedd-
edness in case screening, this study underscores the importance
of context-specific norms and ethics in shaping legal services at
the grassroots level. As rural China underwent dramatic social
changes over the past decades, local norms and practice, such as
mianzi (face), renqing (human emotions), lishang wanglai (reciproci-
ty), and huzhu (mutual assistance), have continued to mold rural
residents’ interactions with one another (Kipnis 1997; Yan 1996).
Indeed, law practitioners often acutely feel the weightiness of
mianzi, renqing, and other cultural rules in their professional
decision-making, despite the central government’s decadelong
reforms intended to marketize legal services in the countryside.
By illustrating how Chinese law practitioners strive to dovetail
their professional services with the moral fabric of rural commu-
nities, this study contends that the practice of law is an integral
part of a localized moral economy. Only with adequate local
knowledge of this moral economy can we fully comprehend how
and why the practice of law is, and will remain, a craft of place
(Geertz 1983).
Economic Incentives and Relational Embeddedness
in Legal Practice
Much research has been conducted to examine economic
incentives in legal practice over the past three decades. Studies of
lawyers’ case screening prove to be quite revealing in this regard.
1
This large to be cited in its entirety.Among the most influential studies are Blumberg
(1967), Eisenstein, Flemming and Nardulli (1988), Dezalay and Garth (1998), Heumann
(1981), Mather,McEwen, and Maiman (2001), McGuire (1993), Michelson (2007), and Lan-
don (1990).
922 Relational Embeddedness in the Practice of Law
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