now that's what i call a lawyer.

Lawyer takes on China's 'unwinnable' cases

"I can't guarantee that you will win the lawsuit. In fact you will almost certainly lose," Gao told one church member who had been detained in a raid. "But I warn you that if you are too timid to confront their barbaric behavior, you will be completely defeated."
The advice could well summarize Gao's own fateful clash with the authorities. Bold, brusque and often roused to fiery indignation, Gao, 41, is one of a handful of self-proclaimed legal "rights defenders." He travels the country filing lawsuits over corruption, land seizures, police abuses and religious freedom. His opponent is usually the same: the ruling Communist Party.
Now, the party has told him to cease and desist. The order to suspend his firm's operating license was expanded last week to include his personal permit to practice law. The authorities threatened to confiscate it by force if Gao failed to hand it over voluntarily by Wednesday. The secret police now watch his home and follow him wherever he goes, he says.
"People across this country are awakening to their rights and seizing on the promise of the law," Gao said. "But you cannot be a rights lawyer in this country without becoming a rights case yourself."
"I'm not sure how much time I have left to conduct my work," Gao said. "But I will use every minute to expose the barbaric tactics of our leadership."