季風人文講壇第72期： Eric Yan-ho Lai

Lawyers’ Awakening Amid Political Crisis: Book Talk onLegal Resistance under Authoritarianism: The Struggle for the Rule of Law in Hong Kong

with Eric Yan-ho Lai (黎恩灝)

September 16, 2025｜In English

Legal Resistance Under Authoritarianism traces the erosion of Hong Kong’s rule of law since the 1997 handover, long before the 2020 National Security Law. Drawing on fieldwork from the Umbrella Movement to the Anti-extradition Bill Movement, Eric Yan-ho Lai reveals how a critical minority of legal professionals resisted authoritarian encroachment. This study not only highlights their role in defending Hong Kong’s legal system but also shows the city’s unique place in global struggles against authoritarianism.

About the Speaker 

Eric Yan-ho Lai, Senior Fellow of Center for Asian Law, Georgetown University. He studies and writes on law and society, judicial politics, human rights and national security in hybrid and authoritarian regimes. His recent works include Resistance Through the Cracks: Resistance through the Cracks: Understanding Hong Kong’s Rule by Law and Resistance in the Courtroom in Comparative Perspective (2024, author) and Hong Kong's 2019 Protests Amid A Half-Century's Struggle: An Oral History (2025, Co-editor). Legal Resistance Under Authoritarianism is his third book and first research monograph.