University of Wisconsin–Madison

Category: Evidence of Lawyers’ Resistance

Batesmith & McEvoy (2025), “‘Closeted’ Cause Lawyering in Authoritarian Cambodia”

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Batesmith, Alex, and Kieran McEvoy. “‘Closeted’ Cause Lawyering in Authoritarian Cambodia.” Law & Society Review 59 (2025): 463–495. doi:10.1017/lsr.2025.29. In this article, the authors analyze how lawyers in Cambodia pursue social justice, human rights, and rule-of-law commitments while navigating an increasingly repressive authoritarian environment. Drawing from seven years of interviews with 37 Cambodian lawyers and …

Mather & Levin (2022). “When and Why Do Lawyer Organizations Seek to Influence Law?”

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Mather, Lynn and Levin, Leslie C., When and Why Do Lawyer Organizations Seek to Influence Law? (2022). Lawyers in 21st Century Societies: Volume 2 (2022), University at Buffalo School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2022-007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4213604 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4213604 Lawyers seek to influence law through advocacy for individual clients, but also through collective efforts. …

Khalil (2024). “This Country has Laws”: Legalism as a Tool of Entrenching Autocracy in Egypt.

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Khalil, H. M. (2024). “This Country has Laws”: Legalism as a Tool of Entrenching Autocracy in Egypt. American Behavioral Scientist, 68(12), 1597-1615. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642241267936 (Original work published 2024)  This article investigates the role of legalism and legal processes in entrenching autocratic rule in post-revolution Egypt. In the aftermath of the spectacular street protests that swept Egypt, …

Cummings (2025). “The Autocratic Legal Playbook”.

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Cummings, Scott L., The Autocratic Legal Playbook (August 14, 2025). UCLA Law Review, Forthcoming, UCLA School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 25-31, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5392409 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5392409 This Article examines the development and rapid innovation of the autocratic legal playbook in America: the strategic blueprint used to destroy democracy through law. It argues that this …

Batesmith & McEvoy. (2025). “Closeted” cause lawyering in authoritarian Cambodia.

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Batesmith, A., & McEvoy, K. (2025). “Closeted” cause lawyering in authoritarian Cambodia. Law & Society Review, 59(3), 463–495. doi:10.1017/lsr.2025.29 Using Cambodia as a case study, this article examines cause lawyering in a repressive political environment. It focuses on “closeted” cause lawyering, a practice they define as the intentional pursuit of change through the legal process that is …

Babakhani (2023). Agents of Change or Agents of the Status Quo: Iranian Lawyers’ Approaches to Women Seeking Divorce in the Context of Discriminatory Divorce Law

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Babakhani, A. (2023). Agents of Change or Agents of the Status Quo: Iranian Lawyers’ Approaches to Women Seeking Divorce in the Context of Discriminatory Divorce Law (Doctoral dissertation, University of Delaware). Summary: Since the 1979 revolution in Iran, the state has relegated women to a subordinate position, treating them as second-class citizens. Existing literature on …

Wang (2020), “Pre-Empting Court-Civil Society Synergy: How China Balances Judicial Autonomy and Legal Activism”

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This article examines the evolving stance of Chinese administrations towards judicial autonomy and legal activism over the past two decades.

Pei (2010), “Rights and Resistance: The Changing Contexts of the Dissident Movement”

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This chapter explores how rapid economic growth and legal reforms in China have reshaped the dissident movement by creating new political and legal spaces for rights assertion.

Borsuk, Dinç, Kavak, and Sayan (2021), “Consolidating and Contesting Authoritarian Neoliberalism in Turkey: Towards a Framework”

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This chapter examines Turkey’s transformation from a hopeful democratic state to a key example of democratic backsliding under the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Ryo (2016), “Fostering Legal Cynicism Through Immigration Detention”

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This article examines how immigration detention in the United States under a hardline enforcement regime, especially during the Trump administration, serves not merely as an administrative tool but as a socio-legal mechanism that fosters legal cynicism among detained noncitizens.