William P. Alford. “‘Second lawyers, first principles’: Lawyers, Rice-Roots Legal Workers, and the Battle Over Legal Professionalism in China.” In Prospects for the Professions in China. Edited by William P. Alford, William Kirby, Kenneth Winston, pp.48–77. Oxford, U.K.: Routledge, 2010.
Following the Cultural Revolution in the mid-1970s, the People’s Republic of China undertook an unprecedented effort to develop its legal system. A critical challenge was identifying the most effective legal personnel to serve as intermediaries between the state and citizens, given the scarcity of trained lawyers at the time. Two models emerged: a top-down restoration and expansion of formally trained lawyers, and a grassroots approach involving “basic-level legal workers,” or para-professionals, who played a key role in extending legal services in rural areas. This article explores the development and significance of these parallel legal personnel systems in China’s legal modernization.