TY - JOUR
T1 - The Trial of Li Zhuang
T2 - Chinese Lawyers' Collective Action against Populism
AU - Liu, Sida
AU - Liang, Lily
AU - Halliday, Terence C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
PY - 2014/5/1
Y1 - 2014/5/1
N2 - The Chinese judicial system has long been influenced by a populist legal ideology that prioritizes public accountability and political legitimacy over professional autonomy. In recent years, however, the Chinese legal profession has begun to mobilize collectively, albeit episodically, to challenge this populism. Drawing on legal documents, interviews, media reports, and online discussions, this paper provides a scholarly analysis of the Li Zhuang case in 2009-11, in which the fate of an individual criminal defence lawyer was linked with the main ideological conflict in China's legal system and the highest-level political struggles in the Chinese state. It demonstrates that, although populism remains an intimidating force in China's judicial practice, lawyers, scholars, and other legal professionals may be laying a foundation for collective solidarity to pursue professionalism through their mobilization against populism.
AB - The Chinese judicial system has long been influenced by a populist legal ideology that prioritizes public accountability and political legitimacy over professional autonomy. In recent years, however, the Chinese legal profession has begun to mobilize collectively, albeit episodically, to challenge this populism. Drawing on legal documents, interviews, media reports, and online discussions, this paper provides a scholarly analysis of the Li Zhuang case in 2009-11, in which the fate of an individual criminal defence lawyer was linked with the main ideological conflict in China's legal system and the highest-level political struggles in the Chinese state. It demonstrates that, although populism remains an intimidating force in China's judicial practice, lawyers, scholars, and other legal professionals may be laying a foundation for collective solidarity to pursue professionalism through their mobilization against populism.
KW - China
KW - collective action
KW - lawyer
KW - populism
KW - professionalism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84929043042&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/als.2013.9
DO - 10.1017/als.2013.9
M3 - Article
SN - 2052-9015
VL - 1
SP - 79
EP - 97
JO - Asian Journal of Law and Society
JF - Asian Journal of Law and Society
IS - 1
ER -