Sida Liu. “Birth of a Liberal Moment? Looking Through a One-Way Mirror at Lawyers’ Defence of Criminal Defendants in China.” In Fighting for Political Freedom: Comparative Studies of the Legal Complex and Political Liberalism. Edited by Terence C. Halliday, Lucien Karpik, and Malcolm M. Feeley, pp. 65-107, Oxford, U.K: Hart Publishing, 2007. This chapter analyzes …
Terence C. Halliday, Lucien Karpik, and Malcolm M. Feeley, eds. “The Legal Complex in Struggles for Political Liberalism.” In Fighting for Political Freedom: Comparative Studies of the Legal Complex and Political Liberalism, pp. 1-43, Oxford, U.K: Hart Publishing, 2007. This chapter examines whether lawyers and the broader “legal complex” serve as active agents in the …
John Ohnesorge, “Regulation of the Legal Profession in China,” China Law and Society Review, 2023. This article analyzes the historical evolution and regulation of the legal profession in China, from imperial times to the contemporary Xi Jinping era. It begins by examining the role of law and “proto lawyers” in imperial China, where legal intermediaries …
Kjersti Lohne. “Rescaling the Legal Complex: Lawyers and the Resilience of the Liberal International Order.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 50, no. 2 (2025): 598-617. This review article revisits “legal complex” literature to assess whether lawyers and related legal occupations can be relied upon to defend political liberalism during periods of democratic crisis. Drawing on …
Rogelio Pérez Perdomo. “The Venezuelan Legal Profession: Lawyers in an Inegalitarian Society.” In Lawyers in Society: An Overview, edited by Richard L. Abel and Philip S.C. Lewis, pp. 201-220. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. This chapter provides historical and socio-political context for understanding Venezuela’s legal and institutional development. It traces Venezuela’s trajectory from Spanish …
Pamela A. Jordan, Defending Rights in Russia: Lawyers, the State and Legal Reform in the Post-Soviet Era. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005. This study examines the transformation of the Russian bar (advokatura) after the collapse of the Soviet Union, focusing on how practicing lawyers and advocates redefined their professional identity and institutional role during democratic transition. …
Qin Ma. “Who are the Chinese Sǐkē (Diehard) Lawyers?—A Belated Clarification.” China Law and Society Review, vol. 10, no. 1 (2025): 1-50. This article explores the emergence and evolution of Sǐkē lawyers, a distinctive group of Chinese criminal defense lawyers who rose to prominence around 2009. Known for their zealous advocacy, emphasis on procedural rights, …
Rahat Imran and Imran Munir. “Defying Marginalization: Emergence of Women’s Organizations and the Resistance Movement in Pakistan: A Historical Overview.” Journal of International Women’s Studies, vol. 19, no. 6 (2018): 132-156. This article examines the rise of feminist legal and political resistance in Pakistan during and after General Zia-ul-Haq’s regime (1977–1988), a period marked by …
Yves Dezalay and Bryant G. Garth. “State Politics and Legal Markets.” Comparative Sociology, vol. 10, no. 1 (2011): 38-66. This article critiques dominant literature on the legal profession for overlooking deeper structural and sociological questions, particularly those concerning the role of elite lawyers in shaping state and economic power. Rather than focusing narrowly on the …
Rachel López. “Critical Curriculum Design: Teaching Law in an Age of Rising Authoritarianism.” Minnesota Law Review, vol. 109, no. 2 (2025): 81-111. This article examines how legal education in the United States contributes to democratic backsliding by producing lawyers who are technically proficient but often disengaged from democratic values. It argues that the traditional model …