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.

• Explores lawyers in transitional conflict and their motivations, agency, creativity, and struggles to reimagine and reshape legal values, institutions and the rule of law
• Draws on original data from six case study studies on the role of lawyers in conflicted, authoritarian and transitional settings
• Contains detailed appendices of the legal and political histories of the six case study sites