[4] Many criminal defense lawyers, Halliday and Liu observed, depend on law practice for their income and generally work alone.

Because they often represent persecuted house church leaders or repressed Falun Gong believers, religious freedom is the theme of their defense.

As a result, many of them were arrested, “disappeared,” and incarcerated in past years, such as Gao Zhisheng, Ni Yulan, Chen Guangcheng, Pu Zhiqiang, and Li Heping, among others in China.

Halliday and Liu point out that the criminal legal system in China remains under the control of the “iron triangle” of police, courts, and government prosecutors.

“More than a decade after the crackdown, only the lawyers most committed to free speech and freedom of association dared to take on their cases.”[6] Others believe the book produces “what is by far the most probing study in any language of the nature and challenges of criminal defense work in China.”[7] William P. Alford, Professor at Harvard Law School, considers the book “a stunning achievement.” Halliday and Liu's study of criminal defense in China find ample support that “at least a tiny portion of the legal profession consistently mobilizes to fight for basic freedoms and political liberalism in the name of ‘law.’”[7]