Defending Rights in Russia

Pamela Jordan's engaging study of the Russian bar (advokatura) provides a richly textured portrait of how, after the USSR's collapse, practising lawyers called advocates began to assume new, self-defined roles as contributors to legal reform and defenders of rights in Russia. Jordan argues that the post-Soviet advokatura as an institution gained more, although not complete, autonomy from the state as it struggled to redefine itself as a profession and suggests that advocates' work is supporting the growth of civil society and the strengthening of human rights in Russia. However, she also warns that such gains could be reversed if the Putin regime continues to flout due process rights.