This article illustrates the dilemma lawyers face in authoritarian regimes—balancing resistance and survival—and highlights their potential role in both confronting and later rebuilding the rule of law.
Evidence of Lawyers’ Resistance
Ahmend (2012), “The Rule Of Law–A Substratum Of Justice: The Lawyers’movement And Its Impacts On Legal & Political Governance Of Pakistan”
This article explores how the lawyers’ movement in Pakistan serves as a critical force for restoring the rule of law and reinforcing judicial independence in a context of democratic backsliding.
Israël (2005), “From Cause Lawyering to Resistance: French Communist Lawyers in the Shadow of History (1929-1945)”
This chapter explores how the AJI engaged in international campaigns against fascism and repression, using legal analysis, public advocacy, and symbolic trials to advance their cause.
Weizman (2015), “Cause Lawyering and Resistance in Israel: The Legal Strategies of Adalah”
This articel argues that while the law’s capacity for political change is limited, it remains a vital tool for exposing systemic contradictions and advancing resistance amid tensions between submission and subversion.
Meili (1998), “Cause Lawyers and Social Movements: A Comparative Perspective on Democratic Change in Argentina and Brazil”
This chapter examines how cause lawyers in Argentina and Brazil have engaged with grassroots social movements amid transitions from military rule to democratic consolidation.
Shamir and Chinski (1998), “Destruction of Houses and Construction of a Cause: Lawyers and Bedouins in the Israeli Courts”
This chapter highlights how lawyers navigate a complex legal and political landscape, using the law both to resist state power and to assert the rights of a vulnerable community within an authoritarian-leaning framework.
Tam (2018), “Political Transition and the Rise of Cause Lawyering: The Case of Hong Kong”
This article analyzes how cause lawyering emerged and thrived in Hong Kong under authoritarian conditions.
Hajjar (2001), “From The Fight For Legal Rights To The Promotion Of Human Rights: Israeli And Palestinian Cause Lawyers In The Trenches Of Globalization”
This chapter examines how Israeli and Palestinian cause lawyers have helped build a human rights movement focused on the Occupied Territories.
Lee (2017), “Lawyers And Hong Kong’s Democracy Movement: From Electoral Politics To Civil Disobedience”
This article examines the pivotal role of Hong Kong lawyers in the pro-democracy movement.
Woods and Barclay (2008), “Cause Lawyers As Legal Innovators With And Against The State: Symbiosis Or Opposition?”
This article challenges the traditional view of cause lawyers as inherently oppositional and leftist actors standing against a singular, monolithic state.