Across
Cultures

Lawyers Without Borders

Lawyers Without Borders is a not-for-profit corporation whose mission is to protect the integrity of legal process, serve the under served, and promote the culture of pro bono service in the legal profession- all with a neutral orientation. It is the brainchild of Christina Storm (Founder and President) – the solution to her desire to help the legal process in under-developed countries, that was birthed during one of her husbands favorite sports games. LWOB have since become the world's largest group of volunteer lawyers from around the globe.

As Christine tells Precious Woman the tale of how such an awesome organization came to be, you can still hear the amusement in her voice as she recalls her husbands reaction..... Christina: My husband thought it was a terrific idea – just one that could be shared after the game! By the time the match ended, I had bought the dot com and set up a temporary website.

PW: What inspired you to begin Lawyers Without Borders?

Christina: I wanted to help other lawyers to access opportunities to help in international pro bono work. Through the website I established an immediate way of asking other lawyers to help in the development of international lawyers skills in dealing with conflict resolution and of course pro bono work.

PW: How does LWOB work?

Christina: We try to use a multi-prong approach. That is, we work in partnership with other large corporations of lawyers and try to come alongside these other countries to assist in the training and development of their own professionals. We work from the bottom up and make it clear to the countries that we are not a watchdog or advocacy organization. We are simply interested in law being upheld everywhere. When lawyers and/or their firms enlist with us, they volunteer to go with us to run training programs and take part in trial observations. As a result, in many countries there are successful LWOB projects up and running.

PW: Many nations have been portrayed to the outside world as being 'lawless' and having justice systems that are 'corrupt' – how does LWOB make a difference in some of these places?

Christina: Well, we can't view it as corruption or lawlessness in that sense. We don't view it as corruption that CANNOT be remedied! We come in as neutral agents and see ourselves as capacity-builders for such countries. In many of those places, all the constraints that lack of capacity produce, such as little money, training assistance lead to the seeming lawlessness. But If you can get a court system thats transparent we can begin to address the chaos, lawlessness and corruption. In effect, be part of the process that enables the prosecution of violence (particularly against women) as a criminal matter.

PW: Do you have any plans for projects in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo or Sudan, where violence against women is rampant?

Christina: No, we don't have projects in any of those places at present, but we'll be heading back to Kenya in August for our second annual training there. We also have some proposals out that would have us working on gender-based violence issues in and around refuge camps, which are the typical cases that seem to be found in Kenya, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Other cases that we deal with involve Inheritance Rights issues especially after the death of a husband. The ability to keep and maintain property is vital for women in countries like Rwanda.

PW: Do you ever take on individual client cases ?

Christina: No, we never do that. There are so many who do just that and many of them are often for political reasons prohibited or barred at various times from coming in and out of the country. So they cannot always complete the work they started. We see the value of LWOB is in remaining neutral so that we can stay in the country and help to build capacity there. Where one woman may have tremendous need to have her case advanced by having it looked at by international lawyers, we try to look toward a longer term picture and goal. We don't see one woman, we see a country of women. And so by not representing any individual person or getting involved in socio political mattes, we are able to stay in the country and build.

PW: What is your vision for the future of LWOB?

Christina: Well, we are just gearing up to take our first judicial intake overseas through Judges Without Borders – and hope to see this program duplicate the same sort of success as LWOB projects. We are also proud to have achieved United Nations Consultative Status this year. This means that we are represented by 30 lawyers at the UN through regional commissions, New York Headquarters, and offices in Vienna and Geneva. LWOB also sponsored panels and workshops at the Committee on the Status Of Women Special Session and at the annual DPI conference this year, held in Paris, France at UNESCO Headquarters. We intend to continue building on this work and remaining a neutral force. Part of that involves preserving confidentiality of the countries we work within and not about seeing problems and going immediately to the press.

PW: What advice would you give any individual wanting to get involved in this type of field?

Christina: See the problem and fix it. Work hard from within and build capacity, and build complimentary relationships with those you are seeking to assist not antagonistic. PW: Is there any way PW readers can help to support LWOB's work?

Christina: For those in law practice, they can go straight to our website, enlist and get involved directly. For others, they could visit the site and send a donation towards our projects. Many of our volunteers are also self-funding, so any assistance they could give would be valuable.

PW: Well, we wish you continued success!

Christina: Thank you.

Why you sometimes aren’t aware of LWOB on-going projects:

The nature of LWOB’s work from time to time mandates that the safety and protection of our lawyers in the field is best served by quiet diplomacy or low profile activity. As a result what is described here represents much but not all of what lawyers are working on in the name of LWOB.

REJOICE!..because life is precious!

To see how you can make a spectacular difference in this world by planting a LOVE SEED, click on the seed Picture above or click on the word 'LOVE SEEDS' below.

LOVE SEED

JOIN THE BIG GIVE NOW!

HELP STOP THE GENOCIDE!