What is the role of a lawyer? The law says a lawyer shall "maintain the legal rights and interests of a client, help enforce the law, and maintain social fairness and justice". Therefore, a lawyer is obliged to analyze facts and interpret related legal matters to his/her client.

But in practice, a lawyer often takes measures -like interacting with the media to save a client from negative publicity - which are not part of his/her professional duties. For instance, in a high-profile gang rape case in Beijing, lawyers of the suspects as well as the victim have used new media to publish unconfirmed details of the case.

The gang rape case has drawn widespread attention because one of the five defendants, surnamed Li, is the son of famous singers. Li, 17, was detained in February on suspicion of raping a woman in a Beijing hotel room along with four accomplices, three of whom are also minors.