Standing outside the court gate on Wednesday morning among hundreds of reporters on the scene to report the high-profile rape case, I kept asking myself what the role of lawyers should be before or during such a trial.

Instead of a normal court hearing, the trial on Wednesday appeared more like a scripted drama. Hundreds of reporters waited outside the court despite the rain, in the hope of learning "shocking" information about the case, which involves well-known military singer Li Shuangjiang's son, who allegedly gang-raped a woman with another four men in February.

The case was not a public hearing due to it involving minors, whose privacy must be protected under law, but many details had been exposed by the lawyers before the trial.