Lawless : A Lawyer-s Unrelenting Fight for Justice in One of the World-s Most Dangerous Places

The extraordinary story of Kim Motley, the US woman who became the first foreign lawyer to practice in Afghanistan. In the summer of 2008 Kimberley Motley quit her job as a public defender in Milwaukee to join a U.S. government sponsored 'capacity building' program that helped train lawyers in war-torn Afghanistan. She was 32-years-old at the time, a former Mrs. Wisconsin (she entered the competition on a dare) and mother of three who had never travelled outside the United States. What she brought to Afghanistan was a toughness and resilience that came from growing up in one of the most dangerous cities in the US, a fundamental belief in everyone's right to justice - whether you live in Milwaukee, New York or Kabul, and a kick-ass approach to practicing law that was to make her a legend in the archaic, highly conservative legal environment of Afghanistan.

Through sheer force of personality, ingenuity and perseverance, she became the first foreign lawyer to practice in Afghanistan, let alone the first woman. Her legal work swiftly morphed into a personal mission - to bring 'justness' to the defenceless and voiceless. In the space of two years, Motley established herself as an expert on Afghanistan's fledgling criminal justice system, steeped in that country's complex laws but equally adept at wielding Sharia law and arcane aspects of the Holy Quran in defence of her clients. Her radical approach has seen her successfully represent both Afghans and Westerners, overturning sentences for men and women who've become subject to often appalling miscarriages of justice. Motley's extraordinary work in Afghanistan was the recent subject of a critically acclaimed documentary entitled 'Motley's Law'.

Featured in the June 2019 Law newsletter.
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