Who we are

Lawyers Without Borders is a not-for-profit 501c3 corporation whose mission is to protect the integrity of legal process, serve the underserved, and promote the culture of pro bono service in the legal profession- all with a neutral orientation. It fulfills its mission through

• Lawyer and Judge trial advocacy training
• Cultivating lawyer skill sets to create effective strategies in the human rights in developing sectors
• Conducting neutral observation of trials, conflict scenarios and detention facilities 
• Developing programming that builds capacy and 
• Offering technical assistance in developing regions and regions emerging from conflict.

LWOB holds special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council Division (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, has associative status with the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) and is accredited to the Department at the UN on the question of Palestine. LWOB and its lawyers engage regularly with the United Nations.   LWOB online volunteers through the United Nations Online Volunteering service have been recognized for four successive years for their  contributions to human rights and development through their work with LWOB.

LWOB channels legal service and counsel through lawyers who work both virtually and in the field. It recruits and manages lawyers from around the world and from a wide variety of practice sectors in the legal profession. In 2009 LWOB was responsible for placing over 50  lawyers in the field working on various projects in East and West Africa and engaging over 200 lawyers in research and technical assistance projects supporting in-country field work.

LWOB’s funding sources include  support from a handful of globally based law firms, private donations, membership dues, private foundation and government grants.

Our work falls into four programmatic categories:

1) STTAT: Support Through Trial Advocacy Training (Themes: Criminal, Trafficking in Persons, Inheritance & Succession, Gender and/or Domestic Violence, Electoral Challenges/Electoral Violence)

2) CORP: Community OutReach Projects: (Themes: Electoral Rights, Participatory Democracy, Universal Human Rights, Criminal Justice, Corruption, Access to Justice)

3)NIIO: Neutral Indepedent and Impartial Observation: Includes Court Trials (Typically closed or with limited access), Detention facilities/conditions, conflict/post conflict scenarios

4)TACB: Technical Assistance and Capacity Building: (Electoral Roadmaps, Case Digests, Bench Books, as examples)

LWOB’s goals are dual-purposed: To grow Rule of Law and the role of pro bono lawyers in Rule of Law programming and to  promote a culture of pro bono and create more opportunities for lawyers to engage in pro bono service.