Lawyers Without Borders

Last updated
Lawyers Without Borders
Founded2000
FounderChristina M. Storm
Focus Human rights
Location
Area served
Rule of Law
MethodField interventions, providing access to justice, legal aid and legal assistance
FundingThird party donations and pro bono work
Employees
27 full time employees
Website www.lawyerswithoutborders.org


Lawyers Without Borders (LWOB) is an international non-profit organization founded in 2000 by Connecticut Attorney, Christina M. Storm, which operates worldwide from its central headquarters located in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A. Its single affiliate, Lawyers Without Borders UK, was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in London, having acquired UK charity status in June 2010. Lawyers from around the world are engaged as volunteers either individually or through their employers (usually either a law firm or an in-house department) who support LWOB as pro bono partners. To date, the countries which contribute the largest number of lawyer volunteers to LWOB field work are the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Contents

The two organizations share the goal of engaging the legal profession in internationally oriented pro bono rule of law work. They support capacity building in the judicial sector of developing nations and regions emerging from conflict through training of judges and lawyers in trial advocacy. The organizations utilize a week-long intense training using mock scenarios in the following contexts: Criminal Law (general), Trafficking in Persons, Inheritance & Succession and Gender Based and Domestic Violence. Other major program areas include: Neutral Trial Observation, Assessment and Evaluation, Technical Assistance (Roadmaps, Manuals, Legal Analysis, Research and Legislative Drafting) and Community Outreach. Community work is focused upon access to justice issues and to date have included themes of civic participation and engagement, rights based education in partnership with local (in-country) NGOs and rights-based education embedded in LWOB supported and managed micro-enterprise.

LWOB integrates major pro bono components in the form of resources and volunteer with the self-funded participation of highly skilled and committed lawyers in nearly all of its programming. This system evaluates the specialized skills of each volunteer and places them into a program after considering and evaluating the following criteria: legal expertise, years in practice, time availability, orientation, language skills and international travel and or living experience. LWOB's programs are typically funded by third party foundations and grant making agencies and typically contain "cost-share" components, leveraging donated human resources and in-kind support.

The organization's orientation is strictly neutral; like the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières, it does not engage in "watch-dog" advocacy. It does not use media or publicity to bring attention to its work in-country and for the safety of its lawyers and integrity of its in-country work often conducts its programming well below the radar of the international press. This approach has helped LWOB gain the respect of governments and authorities who may have otherwise limited in-country engagement of international NGOs. LWOB's programming and models have been implemented throughout Africa (Liberia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Namibia, Cameroon, Tanzania, Mozambique, Rwanda and Uganda). Regions outside Africa where work has been conducted or is planned include: Kyrgyzstan, China, Albania, India.

Student divisions

As of January 2021, there are 29 formally approved Student Divisions of Lawyers without Borders, [1] including at the University of Bristol (UK), the University of Exeter, Durham University (UK), Cambridge University (UK), The London School of Economics (UK), Brooklyn Law School (USA), New York Law School (USA), Oxford University (UK), City University of London, the School of Oriental and African Studies (UK), UConn (Undergraduate), University of Aberdeen (UK), and the Queensland University of Technology (AUS). [2] In the past, LWOB has engaged law students through less formal collaborations at UToronto, UMiami, College of Law (UK), and UConn Law. LWOB offers in-house internships to up to 30 students each year over the course of three terms: Fall, Winter/Spring and Summer. Some virtual internships are available each year and in-country placements are generally available for periods of between 6 – 12 months in Kenya, Liberia and the United Kingdom.

Lawyers Without Borders is an official "Without Borders" trademark-protected organization. It has no affiliation with Avocats Sans Frontières or Doctors Without Borders.

Lawyers Without Borders is commonly known by its United Nations acronym, LWOB.

Mission statement

To advance global rule of law, build capacity and integrity in the world’s justice sectors, and support transitions and development. LWOB engage with lawyers and judges dedicated to pro bono service and integrate them into initiatives that directly or indirectly serve the underserved, protect the disadvantaged, and promote human rights.

LWOB's objective is to develop programs that improve access to justice guided by a mandate of neutrality and independence. [3]

Related Research Articles

Pro bono publico, usually shortened to pro bono, is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who are unable to afford them. More recently, the term is used to describe specialist services provided by any professional free of charge to an individual or community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Engineers Without Borders (Canada)</span>

Engineers Without Borders Canada, abbreviated EWB or ISF, is a non-governmental organization devoted to international development. Founded in 2000 by George Roter and Parker Mitchell, engineering graduates from the University of Waterloo, it is a registered Canadian charity focused on finding solutions to extreme poverty, specifically in rural Africa. The group has chapters at universities across Canada, and regional chapters aimed at professionals in several major cities.

The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto is an interdisciplinary academic centre. It offers various research and educational programs related to the field of globalization. It is located in Toronto, Ontario, offers master's degrees in global affairs and public policy, and a master's degree in European, Russian and Asia-Pacific studies. This school is a member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA). It also works in group of schools that educate students in international affairs. The Munk School's Master of Global Affairs program typically receives 500 and 600 applicants per year and offers 80 students entry into its program.

Pro Bono Net is a US nonprofit organization based in New York City and San Francisco. The organization works in close partnership with nonprofit legal aid organizations across the United States and Canada, to increase access to justice for the millions of poor people who face legal problems every year without help from a lawyer. It does this by (i) supporting the innovative and effective use of technology by the nonprofit legal sector, (ii) increasing participation by volunteers, and (iii) facilitating collaborations among nonprofit legal organizations and advocates working on similar issues or in the same region. Founded in 1998 with a grant from the Open Society Institute, Pro Bono Net has developed a broad base of support from foundations, law firms, corporate sponsors and nonprofit partners alike, to build web platforms that offer powerful and sophisticated online tools to pro bono and legal aid advocates, and to provide critical legal information and assistance directly to the public. Its model has been adopted in 30 states and regions, reaching approximately two-thirds of the poverty population and lawyers in the United States.

Founded in 1994, Alternatives, Action and Communication Network for International Development, is a non-governmental, international solidarity organization based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law, branded as Western Law since 2011, is the law school of Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1959, its first Dean was former Supreme Court of Canada justice, the Honourable Ivan Cleveland Rand, who saw the school as developing "in the minds of its students the habit of thinking in terms of the dynamic tradition, in the broadest sense, of our law." The current Dean of Law is Erika Chamberlain, former clerk to Supreme Court Justice John C. Major, who began her tenure in May 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mary's University School of Law</span> Catholic law school in San Antonio, Texas, US

St. Mary's University School of Law is the law school of St. Mary's University, a private Catholic university located in San Antonio, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Bar Association</span>

The Boston Bar Association (BBA) is a volunteer non-governmental organization in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With headquarters located at 16 Beacon Street in the historic Chester Harding House, across from the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill, the BBA has 13,000 members drawn from private practice, corporations, government agencies, legal aid organizations, the courts and law schools.

The City Bar Justice Center provides pro bono legal services to low-income clients throughout New York City. It is part of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fund, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.

The term Engineers Without Borders is used by a number of non-governmental organizations in various countries to describe their activity based on engineering and oriented to international development work. All of these groups work worldwide to serve the needs of disadvantaged communities and people through engineering projects. Many EWB national groups are developed independently from each other, and so they are not all formally affiliated with each other, and their level of collaboration and organizational development varies. The majority of the EWB/ISF organizations are strongly linked to academia and to students, with many of them being student-led.

ProZ.com is a membership-based website targeting freelance translators. Founded in 1999, it is mainly used for posting and responding to translation job offers. As of 20 October 2018, ProZ.com reports more than 960,000 registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana University Maurer School of Law</span> Law school in Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.

The Indiana University Maurer School of Law is the law school of Indiana University Bloomington, a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. Established in 1842, the school is named after alumnus Michael S. "Mickey" Maurer, an Indianapolis businessman who donated $35 million to the school in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avocats Sans Frontières</span>

Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF), also known as Advocaten Zonder Grenzen or Lawyers without Borders, is an international NGO, active in the human rights and development sector. Created in 1992 by a group of Belgian lawyers, ASF’s main objective is the realisation of institutions and mechanisms that facilitate access to independent and fair justice systems that ensure legal security and guarantee fundamental human rights for everyone.

The ABA Rule of Law Initiative was established in 2007 by the American Bar Association to consolidate its five overseas rule of law programs, including the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, which was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Today, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative implements legal reform programs in 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Andreasyan</span> Armenian judge

Karen Aresi Andreasyan is an Armenian judge and former politician and lawyer who has served as the Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council of Armenia since 2022. He served as the minister of justice from August 2021 to October 2022 in Nikol Pashinyan's government. From 2011 to 2016, he served as the Human Rights Defender (ombusdman) of Armenia. He is also an associate professor of law at Yerevan State University and a member of the Chamber of Advocates of Armenia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Robinson (lawyer)</span> Australian human rights lawyer and barrister

Jennifer Robinson is an Australian human rights lawyer and barrister with Doughty Street Chambers in London.

Public interest law refers to legal practices undertaken to help poor, marginalized, or under-represented people, or to effect change in social policies in the public interest, on 'not for profit' terms, often in the fields of civil rights, civil liberties, religious liberty, human rights, women's rights, consumer rights, environmental protection, and so on.

Public interest law in Hong Kong is an emerging field. The chief vehicle for pursuing public interest claims is judicial review. This is the process by which decisions of the government are challenged in the courts. There has been a surge in judicial review cases since 2000. Environmental issues and minority rights are among the most litigated areas.

The Alaska Immigration Justice Project(AIJP) is a non-profit agency that provides low-cost immigration legal assistance to immigrants and refugees in all immigration applications including citizenship, permanent resident status, work permits, asylum, family-based petitions and immigration petitions for immigrant victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.

Etudes Sans Frontières International is the international federation of existing chapters and members that adhere to the values, objectives, methods, statute and internal rules of the Etudes Sans Frontières movement (ESF), in order to be able to carry the name Etudes Sans Frontières. The federation is registered in Paris as a non-profit organization, which relies on international volunteers to help develop its programs.

References

  1. "Lawyers Without Borders". www.lawyerswithoutborders.org. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  2. www.ausa.org.uk https://www.ausa.org.uk/404/?url=/societies/aulwob/ . Retrieved 2020-04-15.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "Lawyers Without Borders". www.lawyerswithoutborders.org. Retrieved 2023-04-11.