OUR WORK

Connecting Global Expertise
With Local Needs

Our work is grounded in the belief that the rule of law is essential to building just and equitable societies.

Through practical training, policy reform, and community engagement, we help ensure that laws are applied fairly, rights are protected, and justice systems serve everyone—especially those most often left behind.

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HOW IT WORKS

  • We provide training and mentorship to judges, lawyers, prosecutors, and law enforcement to enhance their legal expertise and practical legal skills.

    We mobilize our pro bono network to foster cross-border legal cooperation and knowledge-sharing and to grow the international legal community.

  • We partner with courts, government agencies, and legal bodies to develop fair, effective, and independent government institutions.

    We implement programs to combat corruption, strengthen due process, and ensure legal protections are upheld, promoting fair and equal access to justice.

  • We work to make justice accessible for individuals and communities, particularly those who traditionally may not engage the formal justice system.

    We raise individuals’ awareness of their rights under their legal systems, enabling them to seek justice and advocate for change.

AREAS OF PRACTICE

Child Protection

Improving protections for children from child labor, trafficking, and exploitation, including through trauma-informed practices, policy reform, and other frontline tools that shield child survivors and witnesses from retraumatization by the justice system.

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Governance

Partnering directly with governments and courts to build strong, transparent, and accountable institutions: establishing judicial and prosecutorial training institutes, modernizing dispute-resolution systems, and helping governments establish law and policy in entirely new domains.

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Community-Based Access to Justice

Helping communities understand and enforce their own legal rights through public legal education, plain-language rights guides, and building local capacity to advocate for those rights after conflict, displacement, or crisis.

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Trafficking & Transnational Crime

Building the capacity of prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement to identify, investigate, and prosecute human trafficking and wildlife crime, and to trace and dismantle the money-laundering networks and terrorist financing schemes that let this criminal activity persist across borders.

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Economic Opportunity

Building the transactional legal infrastructure that lets people and businesses participate in the economy and thrive, both locally and internationally, and teaching communities and entrepreneurs directly how to use it.

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Women & the Law

Helping women exercise and defend their rights under the law: supporting survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, restoring education and legal careers for women who've had them stripped away by conflict or repression, and securing the inheritance and family-law protections that keep women and their families economically stable.

GLOBAL REACH

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AFRICA

Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia

MIDDLE EAST

Afghanistan, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates

ASIA

Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand

THE CARIBBEAN

Belize, Cuba, Jamaica

CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA

Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay

OCEANIA

Marshall Islands

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FEATURED PROJECTS

  • Lawyers Without Borders is implementing a U.S. Government-funded initiative to support the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in establishing its new Office of National Security. The project provides legislative drafting assistance, national security advisory services, interagency coordination support, and organizational development expertise to strengthen the Office’s capacity and effectiveness. LWOB maintains a full-time, embedded advisor, Grace Magruder, in the Marshall Islands to provide ongoing technical assistance and partnership support. Originally scheduled to conclude in May 2026, the project has been extended at no additional cost to ensure continued support during this critical institutional development phase.

  • Funded by the Jones Day Foundation, this three-year program supports two Zambian civil society organizations in strengthening their capacity to assist survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and advance systemic reforms within law enforcement and prosecutorial institutions. The project focuses on improving services for survivors through the development of effective practices at one-stop support centers, while also enhancing the technical legal skills of partner NGOs to advocate for survivors’ rights and access to justice. Through capacity building and institutional engagement, the program seeks to promote sustainable, survivor-centered responses to SGBV in Zambia.

  • Lawyers Without Borders has partnered with the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration (NCIA) to provide technical assistance aimed at strengthening Kenya’s alternative dispute resolution (ADR) ecosystem. Under a Memorandum of Understanding, LWOB supports the development of arbitral court rules, promotes the integration of ADR and effective case management practices within the public sector, and assists in designing a training-of-trainers framework to build sustainable local capacity. The partnership also advances thought leadership on arbitration and dispute resolution in Kenya and the broader region.

    In parallel, LWOB collaborates with the Human Needs Project (NHP) Kibera Centre to expand community access to legal knowledge and resources. This work includes the development of intellectual property (IP) toolkits, community outreach and capacity-building activities, and public legal education programs covering topics such as intellectual property rights, contracts, labor rights, family law, domestic violence, and the rights of accused persons. Together, these initiatives strengthen access to justice and legal empowerment for underserved communities.

View Impact Reports
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PARTNER WITH US

We're always exploring opportunities to support legal systems worldwide. If your organization is seeking technical legal assistance or capacity building support, we'd like to hear from you.

Contact Us