Heba M. Khalil. “‘We Belong to the Streets’: Lawyers and Social Movements in Post-Revolution Egypt.” In Research Handbook on Law, Movements and Social Change. Eds. Michael W. Yarbrough, Corey S. Shdaimah, Steven A. Boutcher. pp. 330-355. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023.
This chapter explores how the shifting dynamics of the legal profession—particularly its increasing precarity and de-professionalization—reshape the role of cause lawyers within social movements in authoritarian and transitional contexts like Egypt. In declining democracies, lawyers are no longer distant elites but embedded actors within movements, leveraging their liminal position between the legal system and civil society to enact change. Through ethnographic research, the chapter illustrates how these lawyers navigate and blend institutional advocacy with street-level activism, demonstrating that in repressive or deteriorating democratic environments, attorneys play a fluid and adaptive role that bridges legal strategy and political resistance.