Criminal Defense Private Academy

About This Book and Its Author

About the Author

Zhu Mingyong, Director of Beijing Jingmen Law Firm. He currently serves as Co‑Director of the Criminal Defense Research Center at China University of Political Science and Law, Vice President of the Advanced Institute of Criminal Defense at Northwest University of Political Science and Law, Executive Director of the Chinese Society of Case Law Studies, and he is a master’s supervisor and part‑time professor at several universities.

Representative defense cases (excerpted from his other book Innocent Defense)

• Henan case of Ma Tingxin – intentional homicide: coerced confession, acquitted
• Zhejiang Hangzhou case of uncle‑nephew Zhang Gaoping and Zhang Hui – homicide: coerced confession, verdict overturned after ten years of wrongful imprisonment
• Fujian Fuqing case of Judicial Bureau Director Huang Zhengyao – embezzlement: 11‑year sentence in the first trial, later exonerated
• Jiangxi Nanchang University case of Zhou Wenbin – bribery and misappropriation of public funds – “also a source of Zhu Mingyong’s courtroom‑table‑slamming moments”

…and many more, too numerous to list.

Related Books

• Innocent Defense: A Lawyer’s Notebook – Criminal Defense Private School (this book) is a sequel to it
• 2015 Classic Cases of Innocent Defense, edited by Zhu Mingyong (also 2016 and 2017 editions)
• Innocent Defense: The Battle to Break Out of the Cocoon, Innocent Defense: Breaking Through the Encirclement, Innocent Defense: Finding Life at the End of the Road – I haven’t read these three yet; I have read everything mentioned above

Three Reasons to Recommend This Book

1. A genuine glimpse of China and its rule‑of‑law journey – at the very least you’ll learn about everyday social life and broaden your experience.
2. Insight into how criminal‑defense lawyers untangle complex problems, spot breakthroughs quickly across diverse cases, and devise every possible solution – skills that resonate with product‑manager work, which often faces similar challenges.
3. Seeing lawyers like Zhu Mingyong pursue light in darkness, acting with a clear conscience.

— I hereby proclaim criminal‑defense lawyers my new role models; my previous one was Justice Ginsburg.

In short, a must‑read for product managers, even though it has nothing to do with product management.

(That it has nothing to do with it yet captivates me so much makes it even more worth reading, right?)

My Rambling Thoughts

Late Justice Is Not Justice

One day I was watching a legal program on Bilibili about a case from the 1990s in Inner Mongolia: a teenager was wrongfully sentenced to death. Years later, the real killer was caught and confessed, matching the crime scene and evidence. The program praised the “great effort” and “meticulous verification” of a top authority, eventually leading to the posthumous exoneration.

I was baffled—if the true perpetrator was identified, why did it take so many years to overturn the verdict? And what good does an exoneration do when the young man is already dead, his spirit unrested?

I was so outraged I turned it off.

Late justice is not justice. Stop saying “justice delayed is still justice.”

Oh, and the teenager’s name was Hūgèjīlētú.

In this book I grasped that lesson even more deeply. I’d heard Professor Luo Xiang recount the Yue Fei story many times—“If you want to add a crime, what lack of words?”—but it never stuck. After being falsely painted black, the feeling of helplessness deepened, and now, after immersing myself in these cases, the impact is indescribable.

I learned that torture can take countless forms; sometimes no physical harm is needed—just a threat like “Believe me, I’ll kill you and make you run scared” or “If you don’t cooperate, your whole family will suffer” can be enough to intimidate.

I discovered that calamities truly strike the innocent: two uncle‑nephew, merely helping a girl travel to Hangzhou during the SARS period, were accused of rape and murder, leading to ten years of wrongful imprisonment.

I also saw that it’s not only ordinary citizens who suffer: three traffic police officers on duty were sued for dereliction of duty after a traffic accident, and the director of Fuqing’s Judicial Bureau was prosecuted for embezzlement simply because he did paid translation work after hours.

And then there’s the Nanchang University case of Zhou Wenbin.

In short, if the system wants you guilty, it can make you guilty—like using a hammer to find a nail.

Ultimately, I can only blame a “world that’s a makeshift stage.”

Criminal Defense Is a Conscience‑Driven Job

Having shared the shock of those real cases, I want to point out what this book teaches product managers (really, anyone on how to conduct themselves).

Zhu Mingyong says criminal defense is a “conscience‑driven job,” and he lives that ideal. If I had to sum up his approach in one sentence, it would be: “Be diligent, exhaust every avenue, and give your client your all.” It manifests in:

• Solid fundamentals – master criminal law and criminal procedure, unlike a presiding judge flipping through a massive tome mid‑trial.
• Personal review of the file – comb through every page of dozens of case files, whereas some senior lawyers delegate copying to assistants.
• In‑depth client interviews – spend days talking; many breakthroughs emerge this way, unlike lawyers who mix up clients or even fall asleep during interviews.
• Study the specialized knowledge the case touches – locate experts to dissect the core issues, rather than relying on “template defenses.”
• Given China’s judicial reality, you must not only point out prosecution flaws but also gather your own evidence, as if you were a police officer or prosecutor (e.g., verify a witness’s claim about a shop’s opening hours), instead of merely questioning the prosecution’s evidence.
• When a trial happens outside the courtroom, go after the relevant people by any means – simply doing your “job” isn’t enough.
• Use every legal tool available, as long as the law doesn’t forbid it – again, beyond just “doing your job.”
• Persistence above all – major, complicated cases drag on, with repeated setbacks and even three different charges being brought. The key is never to lose heart; adversity fuels resolve.

Reading this, I kept thinking: criminal defense is a conscience‑driven profession— isn’t our work the same, just with different stakes? The scale of responsibility differs, but the principle is alike.

I think I now have a clearer roadmap for tackling future challenges and perhaps have identified why I’ve felt discouraged in recent years. Ultimately, it’s about having a “clear conscience.”

Some roads are tough; whether you stay the course is up to you.

In the end, this book is my #1 recommendation for 2024.

May we all act with a clear conscience—let’s encourage each other.

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Originally written by Estela Young and published in Chinese on 一只产品汪的自白. Translated and edited for DriftSeas with permission.