Barefoot lawyer

Since the legal reforms of the late 1970s and 1980s, the Chinese Communist Party has moved to embrace the language of the rule of law and establish a modern court system. In the process, it has enacted thousands of new laws and regulations, and embarked on campaigns to publicize the idea that citizens have protection under the law. Despite the meteoric growth in the legal profession in China since the 1980s, many rural counties in China have a severe shortage of legal professionals; a 2004 report by China's Ministry of Justice noted that 200 counties did not have a single lawyer. Moreover, unlike most lawyers who gravitate to urban centers, barefoot lawyers tend to be based in rural areas where citizens have limited access to justice. Although they lack the training and professionalism of lawyers, they serve an irreplaceable function of providing "convenient, approachable, and free services" without political constraints, according to You-Tien Hsing and Ching Kwan Lee. ==Training==

Barefoot lawyers are distinguished from qualified lawyers in that they are often completely self-taught, lack formal training in the legal profession, and are not accredited to practice law. They are also distinct from "legal workers," who are required only to possess high school education plus a six-month legal training program. ==Work==

Barefoot lawyers are known for taking on controversial or politically sensitive cases, such as tackling illegal land grabs, corruption and abuse of power, or environmental disputes. In many instances, more legitimate legal workers and lawyers are unwilling to accept these cases, as doing so can result in reprisals. Several barefoot lawyers identify closely with the Weiquan (rights defending) movement. Among the notable cases taken on by Weiquan lawyers include Chen Guangcheng's effort in 2000 to mobilize 79 villages in his native Shandong Province to petition against a paper mill that had been polluting a river, killing wildlife and ruining crops. The effort was successful, and resulted in the suspension of the paper mill. Chen later earned international recognition for initiating a class-action lawsuit against the staff of a family planning clinic in Shandong province that allegedly forced thousands of people to undergo sterilization or to abort pregnancies. Another case, publicized in Newsweek, involved barefoot lawyers petitioning authorities to provide compensation to villagers who had been beaten by authorities over a tax dispute. In addition to litigating cases in court, barefoot lawyers perform a number of other services, such as organizing citizens to petition authorities. A survey in rural Henan province found that, between 2001 and 2004, more cases were handled by barefoot lawyers than by licensed lawyers. Across China, barefoot lawyers and "legal workers" provide more legal services and draft more legal documents than licensed lawyers, and in some areas litigate more civil cases than lawyers. ==Reception==

Scholars of Chinese law and society have described barefoot lawyers as providing legal services and advice that are largely irreplaceable by lawyers and legal workers; in particular, they provide free access to justice in rural areas, and take on administrative cases and politically sensitive cases that many other legal professionals are unwilling to pursue. Family members reported that Guo was tortured in custody, deprived of sleep, and shocked with electric batons. Chen Guangcheng was sentenced to over four years in prison after he sought to defend victims of forced sterilization and abortion; following his release, he remained under house arrest. ==See also==