Democratic lawyers believe-as much of the rest of U.S. society and the bar do not-that ordinary people, acting collectively with peers, receptive professionals, and other allies, can and must play a leading role in efforts to reshape our society and political
Evidence of Lawyers’ Resistance
Luban (2021), “Complicity and Lesser Evils: A Tale of Two Lawyers”
This Article explores that dilemma in a stark form: through the moral biographies of two lawyers in the Third Reich, both of whom stayed on the job, and both of whom can lay claim to mitigating evil.
Fybel (2022), “Judges, Lawyers, Legal Theorists, and the Law in Nazi Germany”
This essay argues that the German legal system, including courts, judges, and lawyers, enabled and often supported the Nazi regime’s rise and its race-based atrocities by legitimizing Hitler’s incremental consolidation of power under the guise of law.
Kucherov (1953), Courts, Lawyers and Trials under the Last Three Tsars
A historical look at the 19th-century Russian legal profession, highlighting anarchist trials and how lawyers used jury nullification to win acquittals.
Litvinov (1972),The Trial of the Four
Memoir authored by one of the defendants in the trial of the group who protested in Red Square the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Army.
Gessen (2014), Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot
A journalistic account of Pussy Riot’s arrest and trial, arguing that their lawyers prioritized self-promotion over defending their clients.
Kaminskaya (1982), Final Judgment: My Life as a Soviet Defense Attorney
Memoir of defense lawyer who was active during the 1960s. She shares her experiences representing prominent Soviet dissidents and the extent to which the bar association supported her.
Lehoucq and Taylor (2019), Conceptualizing Legal Mobilization: How Should We Understand the Deployment of Legal Strategies?
Sets forth a systematic conceptualization of legal mobilization and situates it within a typology of uses of the law.
Müller (1992), Hitler’s Justice: The Courts of the Third Reich
The role of the legal institution during the rise of Nazi Germany.