Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, Volume 32.2

Issue 2 of Volume 32 is our annual symposium issue. This year’s symposium, titled “Lawyers as Agents for Change in Countries Facing Distress,” was held on January 24, 2025. The symposium examined the patterns and behaviors of lawyers under regimes experiencing democratic decline, exploring how certain lawyers in authoritarian states weakened legal protections for democracy and human rights, suppressed dissent, and enabled power consolidation and unconstrained rule. It also highlighted the efforts of lawyers who countered autocratization by challenging anti-democratic laws, defending pro-democracy actors, prosecuting human rights abuses, drafting pro-democracy legislation, and engaging in other forms of resistance. The symposium further analyzed factors influencing lawyer behavior, including their roles in national professional organizations and how they curated and promoted their self-images.

IJGLS and our multidisciplinary panels of experts discussed the critical role of lawyer participation in forums that facilitate legal challenges in both domestic and international contexts, as well as the types of assistance these lawyers received from within their own country and abroad.