Defending rights in Russia : lawyers, the state, and legal reform in the post-Soviet era / Pamela A. Jordan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jordan, Pamela A., 1965-

Series:

Law and society series (Vancouver, B.C.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bar associations--Russia (Federation)--History--20th century.

Bar associations.

Lawyers--Russia (Federation)--History--20th century.

Lawyers.

Law reform--Russia (Federation)--History--20th century.

Law reform.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (301 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Vancouver : UBC Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Lawyers often play pivotal roles in building democracies. 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. Using the historical institutionalism approach as her analytical framework and drawing from comparative literature on legal professions, 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. Advocates formed new bar associations and law offices and now have a broader range of ways to defend clients' rights than they did during the Soviet era. Jordan suggests that advocates' work is supporting the growth of civil society and the strengthening of human rights in Russia. Jordan concludes that, in a measured way, advocates redistributed social and political power by means of their role as intermediary actors between state and societal forces. However, she also warns that such gains could be reversed if the Putin regime continues to flout due process rights.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Defending Rights in Russia

Introduction

1 The Russian and Soviet Bars: A Historical Perspective, 1864-1984

2 The Advokatura in the Gorbachev Period, 1985- 91

3 Chaos in the Advokatura, 1992-2002

4 Autonomy and Dependence: State- Bar Relations in the 1990s

5 Restructuring the Advokatura from Above, 2002- 3

6 Russian Criminal Defence Advocacy in the Post- Soviet Era

7 New Trends in Advocates' Practice in the Civil Sphere

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Surveys of Advocates' Opinions

Appendix 2: Stages in a Criminal Case in Russia

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes "Selected bibliography" (p. [259]-272) and index.

ISBN:

0-7748-5146-5

OCLC:

180772848