Five years ago, 45-year-old trial lawyer Christina Storm saw a need. And she didn't let a little thing like national borders dissuade her.

In the midst of an increasingly global society, developing nations continue to be marked by economic, political and social instability. As a response to this bleak situation, Storm founded Lawyers Without Borders, the world's largest, globally oriented group of volunteer lawyers who donate their time and skills to support nonprofit agencies, rule of law initiatives and human rights efforts for nations in need across the world.

In January 2000, Lawyers Without Borders (LWOB) burst onto the scene. It is beginning to develop a reputation as a formidable player in the world's legal and nonprofit arenas.

"Humanitarian needs and rule of law needs are growing. Regions of conflict are increasing. We're trying to fashion a resource to respond to these needs," said Storm, president and founder of LWOB. "There is a huge untapped resource of lawyers ready and willing to make a difference."

LWOB functions as a network of lawyers who act as global ambassadors, connecting regions of the world with highly skilled lawyers who are capable of responding to legal queries, intervention requests and rule of law needs at the international level.

Storm felt a desire to contribute to the world on a global level. But she was surprised to learn that nothing like what she had in mind existed out there. "The search for pro bono work was daunting, so I decided that there had to be many more lawyers who felt the same way. It shouldn't be so difficult for lawyers to find pro bono work," Storm said.

LWOB has grown in size, mission and impact far beyond what Storm imagined was possible. The organization has even received the approval of the United Nations. In 2004, LWOB was granted consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, and the previous year had also received accreditation with the U.N.'s Department of Public Information (UNDPI). "It's a badge of honor," Storm said.

But convincing the nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) of the world that LWOB was an investment worth their support posed quite a challenge.

"I don't think that the world of philanthropy believed that lawyers are inclined to just give their time for free. Everybody thinks that lawyers are snakes in the grass, but nothing can be farther from the truth," Storm said. "Lawyers are chomping at the bit to spend some part of their day doing pro bono work — but people just don't believe it."

Some time was all that LWOB needed to get some recognition. After five years of struggling to prove itself and persuade a wary world that the concept of lawyers as philanthropists is not an oxymoron — the organization now has no shortage of rule of law and human rights projects to tackle.

"LWOB is really becoming a magnet for pro bono projects across the globe. We're just sitting here quietly and projects are really beginning to flood our doors," she said, her tone one of quiet pride — and a little relief — after a hard fight. "If well organized and well orchestrated, LWOB has the potential to put millions of dollars into the philanthropic world."

John Meyer, the new executive director of LWOB, said that he sees great promise in the contributions that lawyers can make to the world of philanthropy. He said that the pro bono work that lawyers do can play a significant role in advancing Third World sectors.

"The nonprofits and NGOs of the world need legal expertise in order to get their operations up and running and in order to bring their visions and missions into reality to help address the many social, economic and political problems that exist," Meyer said.

Storm said that while LWOB counts on lawyers from all different backgrounds and concentrations, there is a particularly strong need for business lawyers to get involved in pro bono work. She said that business lawyers have the potential to make unique contributions to the philanthropies of the world but that there simply aren't enough opportunities.

Anthony Barash, director of the ABA's Center for Pro Bono, agreed that there was an enormous need for business lawyers to get involved in this kind of work.

"I think that business lawyers are uniquely situated to counsel clients who are engaged in fundamental economic development in their countries. Essentially, democratization begins with some kind of economic development until citizens have the minimum discretionary income to get off the floor of poverty," Barash said. "Lawyers can play a unique and valuable role in assisting these countries whose economies are not as robust as ours and can facilitate the participation of business communities in the global economy."

According to Saralyn M. Cohen, a full-time pro bono lawyer at Shearman & Sterling, LLP, global times demand global efforts. As a global law firm, she said that Shearman & Sterling are very interested in pro bono opportunities that would enable its staff in offices worldwide to work together and use their special skills.

"We have a great demand for international pro bono work," Cohen said. "We want our lawyers' pro bono work to reflect their skills and match their interests." Cohen said that she sees a lack of quality "providers" (of international pro bono work) as well as a strong need for a group to step up to the plate.

"We're looking to LWOB to provide that for us," she said. "They're filling a vital role, a void, that exists right now to be able to offer global pro bono opportunities to the firms that are seeking them. "

Storm said that it makes sense that as more and more law firms begin to merge and go global, they would want their pro bono projects to reflect that global reach. And LWOB is positioning itself as a ready resource to help law firms' philanthropic efforts keep up with the needs of today's global society.

"They (LWOB) are doing all the right things as a new group to get that up and running," Cohen said. "We're very excited about that."

Lawyers Without Borders is currently undertaking 12 different rule of law projects in a dozen different countries. "We have had nonprofits coming to us for help with projects from nooks and crannies around the world — from some of the smallest cities in the most remote corners of the planet," Storm said.

In terms of rule of law projects, Lawyers Without Borders is focusing on Liberia and several countries in the African continent.

In Liberia, the organization is finalizing a three-phase model termed the ABC Model: Assistance (A) in Rule of Law Supplemented with Books (B) and Computers (C)in support of law schools and judicial infrastructure. The ABC model involves donations of texts and technology to strengthen law schools whose graduates are expecting to work within the new emerging rule of law framework. In 2004, LWOB sent several hundred books on law and 40 computers to the Arthur Grimes Law School in Monrovia.

LWOB then follows up with a legal assessment in response to a specific request for assistance by government officials. "In other words, we don't export rule of law projects. We respond in a very detailed way to very clearly articulated requests for assistance, recognizing that each region will present unique situations, cultural nuances, legal systems, social needs and resources," Storm said. "We do not bring projects to regions where we have not been invited and we are wed to the concept of maintaining a strict neutrality mandate with all our work."

The ABC model in Liberia functions under the umbrella of a broader project called the Africa Child Initiative that was originally launched in February 2003 to address rule of law as it affected child sexual abuse and the HIV-AIDS crisis in Africa. Later, the project expanded to respond to the rule of law needs in some regions of Africa emerging from conflict, with Liberia becoming the project's focal country.

Priscilla Pappadia is executive director of the Connecticut branch for Lawyers for Children America, a nonprofit organization that trains private sectors to do pro bono representing abused and neglected children in juvenile court. She met Strong at a seminar years ago. They struck up a conversation about how they could merge their two passions: Storm's passion for international pro bono work and Pappadia's devotion to helping children.

Pappadia said that from that conversation, the Africa Child Initiative came into existence: "We're determining how existing systems can be improved to protect women and children," she said. "Christina (Storm) set up a system where they're not just organizing projects or teaming up lawyers in certain situations — but they're setting up a program where systemic changes can be made, where relationships between countries can be made."

Since obtaining special consultative status with the United Nations, LWOB has received many requests to discuss with authorities and representatives in several African nations the skills LWOB can bring to address some of their most pressing legal concerns. These discussions are in the early stages. Other projects in development at the LWOB include the drafting of a comprehensive "observer handbook" to be used in detainee observations, conflict observations and observations of closed tribunal proceedings.

LWOB is also working on the development of the Lawyers at Risk (LAR) initiative that aims to create innovative methods for addressing and protecting lawyers who are involved in representing individuals in sensitive cases and who themselves have become the target of prosecutorial action or suspension proceedings as a result.

"The mechanisms we are considering will not make use of the usual public forums such as letter-writing campaigns and press releases, but instead will use negotiation and networking tools at our disposal for rapid response intervention for lawyers at risk," Storm emphasized.

LWOB is also developing ways to involve lawyers interested in rule of law initiatives in other countries, and is engaged in serious efforts to launch branches of LWOB in several regions of the world where lawyers have expressed interest and enthusiasm in helping LWOB grow further.

Toni Fine, a member of the LWOB board of directors, knows first hand how with just the click of a mouse, LWOB can make things happen that other organizations simply cannot do.

A few months ago, a Connecticut lawyer on duty as a soldier deployed in Iraq decided to volunteer his evenings teaching at the local law school. Only thing is — the school had no books.

He quickly remedied that situation by e-mailing Storm on a Saturday morning saying that he needed dozens of books on the American legal system — in Arabic — and the sooner the better.

Storm quickly got in touch with Fine, who happened to have just written a book titled American Legal Systems: A Resource and Reference Guide, that had recently been translated into Arabic. Fine then got in touch with her publisher, and within six days, they had shipped 50 copies of the book to Iraq.

"It was really rewarding and a good example of how our network operates," Fine said. Soon after this, in January 2004, the Books to Iraq Project was launched with a mission to respond to requests for assistance from universities and law schools in Iraq.

The global, lawyer-to-lawyer, e-mail-based network that LWOB counts on is one of its most innovative and successful characteristics.

"Who else could have done it so quickly?" Storm said. "We have created the kind of network around the world that has the ability to respond to a unique need very quickly, very efficiently and at a very low cost. When a need comes in, we need only tap into the network with simple e-mail."

Another innovative and defining characteristic of LWOB is its strict mandate of neutrality. The organization stands ready to perform neutral observation in prisons, conflict situations, and closed trials as well as tribunal proceedings.

"A lot of people thought that we couldn't be truly neutral, that it wasn't possible to be completely neutral, but we're very comfortable in our skin as a neutral organization," Storm said.

Because of LWOB's firm stance as a neutral group, the organization has been allowed to go places where organizations that are more advocacy-oriented simply can't go. On at least two occasions, LWOB has received ministry of justice approval in two countries to observe closed tribunal proceedings.

"No one in the past has ever been allowed to do this. Before LWOB, trials that were closed, were closed. We gained the opportunity to operate underneath the radar and behind the scene, to negotiate in private conversations, with no risk or possibility of political fallout," she said.

And for Storm, the opportunity for nations to engage in open dialogue is crucial for everyone's well being: "Failure of a case to settle in the legal profession is a trial. Failure of a case to settle in the world arena is a war," she said.

LWOB's success in such a short time period has inadvertently created a dilemma of its own. "The organization is growing much too quickly to be supported at the level that we have had for these last five years," Storm said.

LWOB operates entirely on in-kind and cash donations. The organization has a budget of about $250,000 a year, but it has had to make do with cash donations of about $50,000 and in-kind donations of between $100,000 and $150,000.

"This is the future of lawyers playing a formidable role on the world stage," she said. "Our ability to develop this organization into one that can have a significant effect on global societies is directly proportionate to the amount of financial support we receive from the legal community at this critical juncture."

But Storm isn't letting financial woes dampen her hopes.

"Ten years from now, I see us on the stage at Stockholm getting the Nobel Peace Prize. Who better to become involved in the fight for peace than lawyers?" she asked. "It's a very natural place for lawyers to be at the heart of world conflict and using their skills to resolve it."

Until then — the clock is ticking. "One and the same time, it's exciting and nerve-wracking," Storm said. "It's where we wanted to be."