Cheng Huan hardly fits the image of a legal brawler who has spent three decades locked in a battle against the forces of state power.
Sitting in a wood-panelled dining room at the Foreign Correspondents' Club, the 61-year-old legal legend is polished, with manicured nails, a mauve dress shirt and his trademark ring.
A gold chain attached to his trousers keeps his frequently misplaced keys safe and sound.
But as Mr Cheng gently spears another piece of steamed asparagus, his unassuming appearance cannot disguise the fact that this is the same battle-hardened advocate whom his adversaries know all too well.
And he is unwilling - or perhaps unable - to hold back the verbal jabs aimed at those he thinks are running roughshod over his clients.
It doesn't matter whether that client is a socialite, pop star or teenager living with his family in a tiny public housing flat; they all deserve protection from sometimes overzealous prosecutors, Mr Cheng said in an interview ahead of the launch of his book Defending the Law: 'Golden Tooth' glances back.
'There has been a marked, substantial increase in the [state's] power over the years,' Mr Cheng said. 'And there has been an unwillingness or reluctance to check those powers.'