Officials in a number of -Chinese provinces are pressuring lawyers to pull out of a volunteer legal advice group set up to help the -families of thousands of -children who were poisoned by contaminated milk powder, according to people involved in the group.

The pressure faced by the lawyers seeking to help -victims of the toxic milk scandal underscores the difficulties faced by the legal profession and civic groups that seek to tackle potentially sensitive issues in China, even when they do so openly and within an entirely legal framework.