Lawyers, Political Embeddedness, and Institutional Continuity in China’s Transition from Socialism

“been a steady trend that obligational ties (Barbalet 2018) of ‘generalized particularism’ (Lo and Otis 2003) are used to facilitate a wide range of normalized, illicit, and even illegal transactions in the military (Wang 2016), the legal sector (Michelson 2007; He and Ng, 2018), and the government system (Feng 2010; F…”

“…to follow, the legal services industry was privatized quickly and unevenly, especially by the policies to “unhook” (tuogou gaizhi) lawyers from the state in 2000, to “cleanse” the public sector of law firms, and to “consolidate” (qingli zhengdun) the private legal services market (Michelson 2003).”

“22 Michelson 2007, 354.”

“However, there are many – often contradictory – institutional logics at play in China’s recent legal development, which are incongruous with the institutional logic of a market economy (Michelson, 2007).”

“…some positive effects in the appeal process is a bit surprising indeed, as previous studies constantly challenged the effectiveness of Chinese criminal defense (e.g. Fu, 2007; Lu & Drass, 2002; Lu & Gunnison, 2003; Liu & Halliday, 2011; Lu & Miethe, 2002; Michelson, 2007; Ran, 2008; Yu, 2002).”

“Political connections exert both enabling and disabling effects to strategic outcomes in home and overseas markets (Faccio, 2006; Jia et al., 2022; Michelson, 2007).”

“Following the privatization of the bar in the 1990s, scholars have suggested that “lawyers’ individual-level guanxi helped fill the void left in the wake of retreating organizational-level support : : : by mobilizing microlevel political connections” (Michelson 2007, 353).”

“Political Embeddedness Political embeddedness refers to “bureaucratic, instrumental, or affective ties to the state and its actors” (Michelson, 2007).”

“Researchers in economics (Brehm, 2008; Djankov, Qian, Roland, & Zhuravskaya, 2006), politics (Cai, 2008; Yang, 2006), sociology (Michelson, 2007), public administration (Dong, Christensen, & Painter, 2010; Heilmenn, 2008) and organisation studies (Farh, Zhong, & Organ, 2004; Meuer, 2014; Tsui, Schoonhoven, Meyer, Lau,…”

“Meanwhile, the representation rate of criminal cases in China is low due to the hostile institutional environment (Lu & Miethe, 2002; Yu, 2002; Michelson, 2007; Halliday & Liu, 2007).”

“Here, the notion of political embeddedness developed by Michelson (2007) to explain the conditions under which lawyers thrive professionally in China proves useful.”

“On the embeddedness of Chinese lawyers and other legal services providers, see Fu (2012), Michelson (2007b), and Liu and Halliday (2011).”

“The effectiveness of criminal defense in China is further complicated by the tendency of many lawyers to cultivate personal relationships with justice bureaus as a strategy to overcome institutional barriers (Michelson, 2007; Liu & Halliday, 2011; Lu et al., 2019).”

“Many scholars have explained the relationship between government and the non-profit sector in China (Hsu, 2010; Michelson, 2007; Jing & Gong, 2012; Zhan & Tang, 2016; Zhang, 2017).”

“Michelson (2007) argues that political embeddedness is the most important coping mechanism for Chinese lawyers to survive and thrive.”

“…underestimation of the importance of this participation and the related civic education was a sore point of the Polish political transformation that began after 1989 and the reason for the disappointed hopes of Polish society, which also contributed to the constitutional crisis (Safjan 2005, 2007).”

“For a long time, it has been widely believed that the judicial system in China is subject to more interference and less independence (Michelson, 2007; Ng and He, 2017).”

“…history of the legal profession in the Anglo-American world, which is organized in a rather uniform manner, 64 the legal profession of China shows deep political embeddedness in the state bureaucracy, 65 which is a result of both its unique historical development and institutional context.”

“Как показывают многие исследования, адвокаты ввиду значимости занимаемого ими социального положения и наличия у них профессиональных компетенций, связанных с вопросами правоприменения, часто выступают ключевыми актороми социальных реформ (например, реформы государственного управления в Израиле…”

“…havendo um menor número de laços diretos e indiretos, individuais e organizacionais com autoridades políticas e o Estado (Dacin et al, 1999; Michelson, 2007), tendo tido maior influência os laços estabelecidos por atores do setor privado com atores de outras redes ou com empresas e…”

“As a consequence, there is reason to believe that lawyers often avoid defending against state interests ( Michelson 2006, 2007, 2008 ).”