The NRLF was founded by Times and Ti-Anna Wang. It is named after the Chinese prison where their father, Wang Bingzhang, served the first decade of his life sentence for his work in Chinese pro-democracy activism. Times and Ti-Anna have both spent years advocating for their father’s release and bringing attention to human rights issues in China. In doing so, their father’s dream of a more democratic China eventually became their own. 

The NRLF is also inspired by their profession. Times and Ti-Anna are both practicing lawyers. They believe that creative litigation is an important and an effective tool to protect and support dissidents, hold institutions accountable for complicity with oppressive governments, and counter transnational repression. They know how prohibitive the cost of litigation can be for ordinary individuals and created the NRLF to make impactful litigation more accessible.