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 …
Noha Aboueldahab. “Transitional Justice as Repression and Resistance: Practices in the Arab World.” Journal of International Criminal Justice, vol. 21, no. 4 (2023): 701-717. This article analyzes how transitional justice in the Arab World operates as both a mechanism of state repression and a form of legal resistance, particularly in the wake of the Arab …
Eva Pils. “From Independent Lawyer Groups to Civic Opposition: The Case of China’s New Citizen Movement.” Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal, vol. 19, no. 1 (2017): 110-152. This article explores how lawyers in authoritarian and backsliding regimes, specifically China, shift from legal professionals to civic activists in response to systemic institutional dysfunction. The article centers …
Steve Bachmann. “Lawyers, Law and Social Change.” N.Y.U. Review of Law & Social Change, vol. 13, no. 1 (1984): 1-50. This article explores the complex relationship between lawyers, law, and social change, raising a central question for both legal professionals and activists: can law serve as a meaningful tool in the pursuit of justice? The …
Sida Liu, Ching-Fang Hsu, and Terence C. Halliday. “Law as a Sword, Law as a Shield. Politically Liberal Lawyers and the Rule of Law in China.” China Perspectives, vol. 2019, no. 1 (2019): 65-73. This article investigates how politically liberal lawyers in China and Hong Kong understand and utilize the concept of the rule of …
Hualing Fu. “The July 9th (709) Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers: Legal Advocacy in an Authoritarian State.” Journal of Contemporary China, vol. 27, no. 112 (2018): 554-568. This article examines the 2015 crackdown on human rights lawyers in China, situating it within the broader political context of increasing authoritarian control. It analyzes the emergence and …
Umut Z. Türem. “Professional Liquidation in the Context of Autocratic Legalism: Lawyers, Class, and Status in Turkey, 2002–?.” Law & Social Inquiry, First View (2025): 1-32. This article argues that discussions of autocratic legalism must include the legal profession alongside the judiciary, using Turkey as a case study. It shows that in contexts where the …