Jeff Handmaker, Associate Professor of Legal Sociology, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands and Visiting Faculty at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

’This is essential reading for everyone who wants to understand how law can be effectively deployed as a form of counterpower in the fight for justice. Handmaker and colleagues not only break new theoretical ground in distinguishing legal mobilisation from lawfare, they provide rich case studies that illuminate what is at stake in a world increasingly hostile to fundamental rights and democratic values, providing crucial lessons for how resistance movements can use law to overcome backlash and win sustainable change. This book could not be more urgent and timely.’

• ContentsForeword PrefaceAcknowledgements 1 Introduction: the potential and limits of legal mobilization2 Legal mobilization as an analytical approach and the importanceof counterpower 3 Challenging Dutch lawfare towards migrants through legalmobilization 4 A human face to end impunity: boycott, divestment andsanctions as legal mobilization 5 Legal mobilization responses to Covid-19 and the need for acritical lens 6 Countering the lawfare blowback: legal mobilization defendersfor Palestine 7 Conclusion: towards legal learning Afterword List of references

Jeff Handmaker, Associate Professor of Legal Sociology, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands and Visiting Faculty at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

’This is essential reading for everyone who wants to understand how law can be effectively deployed as a form of counterpower in the fight for justice. Handmaker and colleagues not only break new theoretical ground in distinguishing legal mobilisation from lawfare, they provide rich case studies that illuminate what is at stake in a world increasingly hostile to fundamental rights and democratic values, providing crucial lessons for how resistance movements can use law to overcome backlash and win sustainable change. This book could not be more urgent and timely.’

• ContentsForeword PrefaceAcknowledgements 1 Introduction: the potential and limits of legal mobilization2 Legal mobilization as an analytical approach and the importanceof counterpower 3 Challenging Dutch lawfare towards migrants through legalmobilization 4 A human face to end impunity: boycott, divestment andsanctions as legal mobilization 5 Legal mobilization responses to Covid-19 and the need for acritical lens 6 Countering the lawfare blowback: legal mobilization defendersfor Palestine 7 Conclusion: towards legal learning Afterword List of references