About BC Books Online
BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Description
Pamela Jordan’s engaging study of the Russian bar (advokatura) provides a richly textured portrait of how, after the USSR’s collapse, practising lawyers called advocates began to assume new, self-defined roles as contributors to legal reform and defenders of rights in Russia. Jordan argues that the post-Soviet advokatura as an institution gained more, although not complete, autonomy from the state as it struggled to redefine itself as a profession and suggests that advocates’ work is supporting the growth of civil society and the strengthening of human rights in Russia. However, she also warns that such gains could be reversed if the Putin regime continues to flout due process rights.
Contributor Notes
Pamela A. Jordan is an assistant professor in the Department of History at the University of Saskatchewan.
Editorial Reviews
Jordan’s book represents a major contribution to the study of Russian legal institutions, as well as post-Soviet Russian politics. As such, the book should be of interest to Russian specialists as well as a broader audience interested in comparative law and the development of civil society. Her exemplary scholarship includes thorough consideration of available literature as well as numerous interviews with leading Russian advocates and jurists… Nevertheless, Jordan’s comprehensive discussion of legal hisotyr and current practices will serve as mandatory reading for scholars interested in Russian politics and understanding Russia’s uneven attempts – both past and present – at legal reform.
— Law and Politics Books Review, Vol. 16, No. 3
The struggle for legal reform in Russia, the famous Russian political cases, and the behavior of Russian courts get a lot of attention, but Russian lawyers themselves rarely do. How their role is changing, who sets the standards for their education and admission to the guild, how they earn a living, and what their contribution has been to modernizing the Russian legal system are matters little studied -- until Jordan's efficient account.
— Foreign Affairs, November/December 2005
