From the Annals of Lü Buwei

18/4.4 — When Prince Chan governed Zheng, Deng Xi strove to disrupt things. He made a pact with those involved in litigation by which those who intended to pursue major legal cases should submit an upper garment, and those who wished to pursue minor legal cases should submit a short coat and lower garment. Those who submitted these garments and involved themselves in litigation were too numerous to count.

Thus, wrong was taken to be right, and right was taken to be wrong. With no standard of what was right and wrong, what was permissible and impermissible varied each day. Those whom Deng Xi wished to win in litigation did win, and those whom Deng Xi wished to punish were punished.

The state of Zheng fell into complete chaos, and the populace clamored. Prince Chan, troubled by this turn of events, had Deng Xi executed and his corpse exposed. The peopled hearts were then stilled, right and wrong were settled, and the laws and regulations enforced.

Deng Xi administers justice. According to the accusation, he set the price for judgments handed down in favor of cases, large or small.
Considering Deng Xi expertise in interpretating the law, one could suppose that he found and applied an interpretation of the law that exonerated his clients.
If so, he simply did what a lawyer is supposed to do and paid for. The problem is that judge and advocate are one and the same person.