... I was aware of the extent to which judges may bend to 'telephone law'

The Yukos case is only the most infamous example of so-called 'telephone law', a practice by which outcomes of cases allegedly come from orders issued over the phone by those with political power rather than through the application of law.
https://media.law.wisc.edu/m/nmytc/telephone_law_and_rol.pdf

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bend-to-s...


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Note added at 1 hr (2017-07-29 10:47:41 GMT)
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Cases of political importance were subject to so-called “telephone law”—legal decisions dictated by telephone calls from party officials to judges.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Soviet-law

For instance:
I knew full well just how susceptible judges/courts could be to administrative pressure.
Or better still,(inappropriate/undue)outside pressure?
"...just how susceptible judges/courts could be to (inappropriate/undue)outside pressure."
I am just not sure how common the term "telephone law/justice" is.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2017-07-29 11:42:15 GMT)
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In light of Susan's comment, I've come up with a slightly different version:
I knew full well just how susceptible judges/courts could be to the so-called "telephone law/justice", which basically means administrative pressure exerted on the judge by government officials in order to get the "right" ruling.

I thought I understood the judges' likeness to bend the law under duress, or when called by influential people