“Asia has a large variety of legal professions across both common law and civil law jurisdictions, yet they are often understudied in sociolegal research. Since its inaugural issue in 2014, the Asian Journal of Law and Society has been striving to strengthen our understanding of legal professions in various Asian contexts, including their history, social structure, professional work and political mobilization. In this virtual issue, we present three articles with a focus on lawyers in criminal cases and political transformation, such as cause lawyers after Thailand’s military coup, lawyers’ practice of plea bargaining in Hong Kong, and the collective action of Chinese criminal defense lawyers. The Journal will continue to publish cutting-edge empirical research on the legal professions in Asia in the future.”

Dr. Sida Liu, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto