Lawyers in conflict and transition

Countries undergoing or recovering from conflict and authoritarianism often face profound rule of law challenges. The law on the statute books may be repressive, judicial independence may be compromised, and criminal justice agencies may be captured by powerful interests. How do lawyers working within such settings imagine the law? How do they understand their ethical obligations towards their clients and the rule of law? What factors motivate them to use their legal practice and social capital to challenge repressive power? What challenges and risks can they face if they do so? And when do lawyers facilitate or acquiesce to illegality and injustice? Drawing on over 130 interviews from Cambodia, Chile, Israel, Palestine, South Africa, and Tunisia, this book explores the extent to which theoretical understandings within law and society research on the motivations, strategies, tactics, and experiences of lawyers within democratic states apply to these more challenging environments.

• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• 1. Lawyers in conflict and transition
• 2. Cause lawyers, political violence, and professionalism in conflict
• 3. Boycott, resistance, and the law: cause lawyering in conflict, repression, and transition
• 4. Gender and cause lawyering in conflicted, authoritarian, and transitional societies
• 5. Government lawyers in conflict, repression, and transition
• 6. Lawyers in transitional political negotiations
• 7. Lawyers, transitional justice and dealing with the past
• 8. Conclusion
• Appendices
• Bibliography.