A Sword and a Shield: Chinaa€™s Human Rights Lawyers provides an understanding of how Chinaa€™s legal system works in the context of the political reality in todaya€™s China. This collection of articles by prominent legal academics and practitioners provides valuable insights into the roles lawyers have played in Chinaa€™s legal system and the constraints they have encountered since Chinaa€™s legal profession was restored in the early 1980s.