U.S.-Asia Law Institute

China’s legal service sector is growing rapidly, including not only commercial law offices but publicly funded legal aid and innovative free legal advice platforms. At the same time, the regime has largely suppressed the country’s human rights lawyers. What is going on? Hualing Fu, dean of the law faculty at the University of Hong Kong and visiting professor at NYU School of Law, will share his research into an emerging new sector that he calls “public legal services,” which the party-state is developing in order to ensure that social disputes are resolved speedily in line with regime interests. In the process, Chinese lawyers may be transitioning backward from legal professionals to state legal workers.