In January 2025, a group of researchers who would later become part of LADD gathered at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington for Lawyers as Agents for Change in Countries Facing Distress, a two-day symposium co-sponsored by LADD and hosted by the Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies. The event was organized by Kathryn Hendley (University of Wisconsin–Madison), Jayanth K. Krishnan (Indiana University Maurer School of Law), and IJGLS student editors Nashuba Hudson and Julia Raczek.

The symposium took up a question at the center of LADD’s work: what lawyers actually do when democracy erodes around them. Papers examined how some lawyers in authoritarian states have weakened legal protections for democracy and human rights, suppressed dissent, and helped consolidate unconstrained rule — and how others have pushed back, challenging anti-democratic laws, defending pro-democracy actors, prosecuting human rights abuses, and drafting pro-democracy legislation. Contributors also looked at what shapes those choices: the strength or absence of national professional associations, the availability of domestic and foreign support, access to forums where legal challenges are possible, and the self-images lawyers construct and promote.

The resulting issue spans China, Brazil, Egypt, Russia, and Poland, and is organized into four sections.

The full issue is available through Project MUSE: Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, Vol. 32, No. 2 (2025)