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 …
China
Pils (2017), “From Independent Lawyer Groups to Civic Opposition: The Case of China’s New Citizen Movement”
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 …
Fu (2018), “The July 9th (709) Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers: Legal Advocacy in an Authoritarian State”
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 …
Lei (2018), The Contentious Public Sphere: Law, Media, and Authoritarian Rule in China
Ya-Wen Lei. The Contentious Public Sphere: Law, Media, and Authoritarian Rule in China. Princeton, U.S.: Princeton University Press, 2018. This book explores how China’s authoritarian state, through law, media, and the Internet, has unintentionally fostered …
Michelson (2007), “Lawyers, Political Embeddedness, and Institutional Continuity in China’s Transition From Socialism”
Ethan Michelson. “Lawyers, Political Embeddedness, and Institutional Continuity in China’s Transition From Socialism.” The American Journal of Sociology, vol. 113, no. 2 (2007): 352–414. This article examines how Chinese lawyers navigate professional challenges by developing …
Gallagher (2017), Authoritarian Legality in China: Law, Workers, and the State
Mary E. Gallagher. Authoritarian Legality in China: Law, Workers, and the State. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2017. This book explores how authoritarian regimes may adopt democratic legal institutions to reinforce their rule, using China’s …
Wang (2024), “Embedded Supervision: China’s Prosecutorial Public Interest Litigation Against Government”
Yueduan Wang. “Embedded Supervision: China’s Prosecutorial Public Interest Litigation Against Government.” Regulation & Governance, (2024): 1-41. This study challenges the assumption that diminished institutional autonomy necessarily weakens legal oversight in authoritarian regimes. Focusing on prosecutor-led …
Wang and Xia (2024), “State-Sponsored Activism: How China’s Law Reforms Impact NGOs’ Legal Practice”
Yueduan Wang and Ying Xia. “State-Sponsored Activism: How China’s Law Reforms Impact NGOs’ Legal Practice.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 49, no. 1 (2024): 451–77. This study explores how attorneys and law-related NGOs navigate legal …
Kwong (2025). “The Legal Profession in Battle: Cause Lawyers Versus State-Embedded Lawyers in Hong Kong’s Democratization”.
Kwong, Y. H. (2025). The Legal Profession in Battle: Cause Lawyers Versus State-Embedded Lawyers in Hong Kong’s Democratization. Social & Legal Studies, 34(4), 580-601. The existing literature has long recognized that cause lawyers play important roles in …
Michelson & Li (2012). “Judicial performance without independence: the delivery of justice and political legitimacy in rural China”..
Michelson, E., & Li, K. (2012, May). Judicial performance without independence: the delivery of justice and political legitimacy in rural China. In Prepared for workshop on works-in-progress on Chinese law. The debate over whether weak judicial …