Lawless

In the summer of 2008 Kimberley Motley quit her job as a criminal defence attorney in Milwaukee to join a program to help train lawyers in war-torn Afghanistan. She was 32 years old at the time, a former Mrs. Wisconsin (she’d entered the contest on a dare) and a mother of three who had never travelled outside the United States.     

What she brought to Afghanistan was a toughness and resilience which came from growing up in the projects in one of the most dangerous cities in America, a fundamental belief in everyone’s right to justice – whether you live in Milwaukee, New York or Kabul – and a kick-ass approach to practising law that has made her a legend in the archaic, misogynistic and deeply conservative environment of Afghanistan.     Through sheer force of personality, ingenuity and perseverance, Kimberley became the first foreign lawyer to practise in the courts of Afghanistan. Her legal work swiftly morphed into a personal mission – to bring  justness  to the defenceless and voiceless.In the space of two years, Kimberley established herself as an expert on Afghanistan’s fledgling criminal justice system, steeped in the country’s complex laws but equally adept at wielding religious law in the defence of her clients.     

Her radical approach has seen her successfully represent both Afghans and Westerners, overturning sentences for men and women who have become subject to often appalling miscarriages of justice.     Kimberley’s story is both the memoir of an extraordinary woman fighting in one of the most dangerous countries in the world, and a page-turning non-fiction legal thriller.