A hit Chinese TV drama focusing on female lawyers has attracted a lot of interest among Chinese netizens by discussing some controversial social issues and popularizing laws in order to encourage the public to use the law to protect their rights.

The 40-episode TV series Lady of Law started airing on China Central Television and Chinese video platform Tencent on Monday. Women and the law are both hot issues in Chinese social media, making the series catch netizens’ attention from the beginning.

The series takes the profession of lawyers as an entry point and tells the stories of two female lawyers with different ideas who gradually come to understand each other and guard justice together.

Xu Jie, played by actress Jiang Shuying, is recruited by a new lawyer’s office, where she works with Chen Ran, played by actress Liu Mintao.

Xu and Chen held different views on the lawyer’s obligation and duty at the beginning, leading to conflicts during their work. But then they find shining qualities in each other and become close friends, solving troubles for those seeking help from the law.

“In the fairy tales, there are pumpkins and heroes that protect princesses, but in reality we can just rely on the law to protect our rights.” This line indicates the consensus in the show about the importance of the law.

The Sina Weibo account of the Supreme People’s Court of China promoted the TV series on Wednesday, listing 19 cases in the series that can show people the role of the law in maintaining justice.

One of cases is about a pregnant woman who was fired after telling her employer that she was pregnant. She asks for help from Xu and Chen’s office to sue the company and resist behavior that violates the labor law.

The series also mentions infringement of intellectual property rights to inform audiences that protection is required when making innovations.

Legal-themed film and TV dramas can play a role in popularizing the law to the public to a certain extent, especially for young viewers. It is possible that the plot in a film or television show could be the basis of their initial understanding of the law, Luo Luo, a Beijing-based film critic, told the Global Times on Thursday.

She added that the influence of such works means they need to be authentic in their content, especially for parts about the law, or they might mislead viewers.