On 29 January 2017, one of Myanmar's most noted constitutional lawyers and legal_x000D_ adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling National League for Democracy ("NLD") was_x000D_ shot dead in broad daylight atYangon International Airport. Coming only three days_x000D_ after the publication of Constitutionalism and Legal Change in Myanmar (2017),_x000D_ U Ko Ni's shocking assassination graphically highlighted the ongoing fragility of_x000D_ the transition to democracy and the perils continuing to face those who speak out_x000D_ for constitutional reform, human rights and the rule of law in one of South East_x000D_ Asia's most complex countries. The cautious optimism advocated by Daw Suu_x000D_ in the wake of the NLD's election victory in November 2015 has in the intervening_x000D_ two years been increasingly tested. The political power still evidently wielded by the_x000D_ military, continuing sporadic armed conflict in the ethnic states despite the nationwide_x000D_ ceasefire agreement, and international condemnation of widely reported allegations_x000D_ of government-perpetrated mass human rights violations in Rakhine State have all_x000D_ strained Myanmar's nascent democratic credentials.