Björn Ahl, “Retaining Judicial Professionalism: The New Guiding Cases Mechanism of the Supreme People’s Court.” The China Quarterly, vol. 217 (2014): 121–39. Summary: In 2011 and 2012, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) published its first …
Archive
Godsoe, Smith, Yaroshefsky (2022), “Can You Be a Legal Ethics Scholar and Have Guts?”
The article also offers a framework for action, including filing disciplinary complaints and embracing a more publicly engaged model of legal ethics scholarship.
Ahl (2019), ” Judicialization in authoritarian regimes: The expansion of powers of the Chinese Supreme People’s Court”
Bjorn Ahl, “Judicialization in authoritarian regimes: The expansion of powers of the Chinese Supreme People’s Court.” International Journal of Constitutional Law, Volume 17, Issue 1 (January 2019): Pages 252–277 Summary: Over the past two decades …
Kroncke (2025), “Legal Complicity in an Age of Resurgent Authoritarianism”
This article critiques the ethical assumptions underlying liberal legal professionals’ engagement with authoritarian regimes, particularly through the lens of modernization theory, which once promised that economic development would naturally lead to democratization.
Petrigh (2024), “Counseling Oppression”
This article critically examines the role of public defenders in counseling clients within a carceral system, highlighting how the act of legal counseling can simultaneously reinforce systemic oppression and serve as a site for resistance and transformation.
Ashar (2007), “Public Interest Lawyers and Resistance Movements”
This article examines how public interest lawyers engage with and support resistance movements that challenge the economic, political, and social consequences of globalization and neoliberalism.
Halliday, Karpik, Feeley (2007), Fighting for Political Freedom: Comparative Studies of the Legal Complex and Political Liberalism
This book explores the global role of lawyers and the broader “legal complex” as central actors in the struggle for political liberalism.
Brown (1938), Lawyers and the Promotion of Justice
This foundational study examines the legal profession in the United States as part of a broader inquiry into the roles and responsibilities of established and emerging professions.
Abouharb, Moyer, Schmidt (2013), “De Facto Judicial Independence and Physical Integrity Rights.”
Abouharb, M. Rodwan, Laura P. Moyer, and Megan Schmidt, “De Facto Judicial Independence and Physical Integrity Rights.” Journal of Human Rights, vol. 12, no. 4 (2013): 367–96. Summary: Economists, political scientists, and legal scholars have argued …
Verdugo (2021), “How Judges Can Challenge Dictators and Get Away with It: Advancing Democracy while Preserving Judicial Independence”
Sergio Verdugo, “How Judges Can Challenge Dictators and Get Away with It: Advancing Democracy while Preserving Judicial Independence.” Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, vol. 59, no. 3 (2021): 554-607 Summary: The literature on constitutional courts in …