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Lawless: A lawyer's unrelenting fight for justice in one of the world's most dangerous places
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.
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.
- GenresLawMemoirNonfiction
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 5, 2019
18 people are currently reading
214 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 18, 2019
Brilliant, brilliant and some more brilliance. Wow. This book is eye opening to the devastations and the adverse culture of modern Afghanistan. Ms. Motley is so empowering, strong, intelligent and determined. So brave and courageous too. I have an immense amount of respect for her and what she does. Would HIGHLY recommend this book. Honestly, it left me in awe and not a book I will forgot easily. I shall ponder on the big questions raised throughout Ms. Motley’s story for a long time after finishing the last page.
October 1, 2019
Full disclosure - I know Kim from my days in Kabul. I've been itching to read this book, as she is a bit of a legend in Afghanistan and this book will help you understand why. Her fearless passion and love for law and Afghanistan is conveyed through her authentic writing where she doesn't pull punches. I couldn't put this book down and finished within two days. Whether you end up agreeing with some of her views or not, I highly recommend you listen, or rather, read!
March 30, 2020
I read romance novels and non-fiction. In romance novels I like strong heroines, but I have never read about a heroine as strong, courageous, impressive and inspiring as Kimberley Motley. Her book Lawless will end up very high on my all time favourite book list on Goodreads. I just hope that she stays alive and unharmed. She is not easily scared and goes places, such as Afghan prisons, where male foreign lawyers do not dare to go.
The book has 23 chapters, each one a story in itself. I normally take several days to read a non-fiction book, but finished this one in about a day.
Kimberley Motley grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is a place that incarcerates more black men than any other city in the US. The ruthless experiences in her youth in Milwaukee helped her to be prepared for whatever the world could throw at her. Her bad start in life did not prevent her from going to law school at two different universities simultaneously and graduating in 2003.
She started as a public defender at the Milwaukee Public Defender's Office where she could immediately tell she was unusual. While for most of her peers, working as a public defender was the first time that they had seen criminal activity up close, Kimberley had been conditioned to it since she was a little kid. She was overwhelmed with cases and was required to represent somewhere between 200 and 250 people per year. One of her first cases was a boy who had accidentally shot another boy, when his friends showed him a gun they had just bought from some guy on the streets.
After some time, Kimberley, who by now has a husband and three young kids, with her job as a public defender and a second job lecturing at the local community college, starts looking for other jobs to pay her bills, the mortgage and college loans of herself and her husband, who is still in college. She ends up accepting a job in Afghanistan to train local lawyers, not having ever heard of Afghanistan before. She hears about all of the violence taking place in Afghanistan when she is trained for the job, but wants the job badly, because it pays three times as much as the money she made at the time.
What follows in Afghanistan, is inside information on how the American program to train Afghani lawyers completely and utterly ignored the environment in which they operated. Not a single Afghan was involved in setting up the training system. Not a single American involved in the program had ever attended an Afghan court or had ever been inside Pul-e-Charki prison, the biggest prison in Afghanistan. Kimberley Motley did all of these things, she spoke to the prisoners, spoke to Afghan judges and studied the Holy Quran, which had a big impact on the way the Afghan judicial system operated. In doing so, she became a threat to the Americans working in the program, who liked to keep things as they were, comfortably isolated from the actual problems outside.
We then follow Kimberley, who practically single handedly builds up a network, going from one case to another. Taking up many pro-bono cases, and always in need of money to send home to her family to pay the bills. She was, and is, the only hope for many people, male and female, old and young, of all kinds of nationalities who were crushed by the Afghan legal system. There was a six year old Afghan girl who was sold off into slavery to an older man to settle a debt, and three British small boys who had been abducted by their father to Afghanistan. Kimberley succeeded in bringing them back to England even though initially there was not a single clue where to start looking for them. The worst case to read about was a fourteen year old girl Sahar who had been sold off by her brother to a 30-year old stranger. She had been tortured daily by the stranger and his family, chained to a wall in a cellar, because she refused to work as a prostitute. The list goes on and on and shows that she has succeeded in achieving justice where others before her dared not go.
Surprisingly to me, Mrs. Motley used the Afghan law and the Quran to her advantage. The problem was not the law or the Quran, but the corruption and the incredible misogynism, where the relation between a woman and a man is that of a slave and his master. It was considered perfectly normal to sell a woman to settle debts. Contrary to popular belief, the practice did not start with the Taliban; it was a cultural norm long before the Taliban took over in 1996. What struck me perhaps even more was that Afghan women are so brainwashed, that they actually believe men to be superior to women, and that they believe persecution on the ground of "adultery by force" of a 16-year old girl Gulnaz who had been raped by her 40-year old cousin, to be just. When Kimberley had obtained a pardon from president Karzai for Gulnaz, the girl ended up in a women's shelter which was even more oppressive than prison.
I came across this book because the Dutch translation was released on 16 March 2020. It immediately caught my attention, and I bought the original English version a few days ago. This original version was released almost 8 months ago and has only 54 ratings and 5 reviews on Goodreads. How is this possible? Mrs. Motley deserves a huge audience and I cannot recommend her book enough.
The book has 23 chapters, each one a story in itself. I normally take several days to read a non-fiction book, but finished this one in about a day.
Kimberley Motley grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is a place that incarcerates more black men than any other city in the US. The ruthless experiences in her youth in Milwaukee helped her to be prepared for whatever the world could throw at her. Her bad start in life did not prevent her from going to law school at two different universities simultaneously and graduating in 2003.
She started as a public defender at the Milwaukee Public Defender's Office where she could immediately tell she was unusual. While for most of her peers, working as a public defender was the first time that they had seen criminal activity up close, Kimberley had been conditioned to it since she was a little kid. She was overwhelmed with cases and was required to represent somewhere between 200 and 250 people per year. One of her first cases was a boy who had accidentally shot another boy, when his friends showed him a gun they had just bought from some guy on the streets.
After some time, Kimberley, who by now has a husband and three young kids, with her job as a public defender and a second job lecturing at the local community college, starts looking for other jobs to pay her bills, the mortgage and college loans of herself and her husband, who is still in college. She ends up accepting a job in Afghanistan to train local lawyers, not having ever heard of Afghanistan before. She hears about all of the violence taking place in Afghanistan when she is trained for the job, but wants the job badly, because it pays three times as much as the money she made at the time.
What follows in Afghanistan, is inside information on how the American program to train Afghani lawyers completely and utterly ignored the environment in which they operated. Not a single Afghan was involved in setting up the training system. Not a single American involved in the program had ever attended an Afghan court or had ever been inside Pul-e-Charki prison, the biggest prison in Afghanistan. Kimberley Motley did all of these things, she spoke to the prisoners, spoke to Afghan judges and studied the Holy Quran, which had a big impact on the way the Afghan judicial system operated. In doing so, she became a threat to the Americans working in the program, who liked to keep things as they were, comfortably isolated from the actual problems outside.
We then follow Kimberley, who practically single handedly builds up a network, going from one case to another. Taking up many pro-bono cases, and always in need of money to send home to her family to pay the bills. She was, and is, the only hope for many people, male and female, old and young, of all kinds of nationalities who were crushed by the Afghan legal system. There was a six year old Afghan girl who was sold off into slavery to an older man to settle a debt, and three British small boys who had been abducted by their father to Afghanistan. Kimberley succeeded in bringing them back to England even though initially there was not a single clue where to start looking for them. The worst case to read about was a fourteen year old girl Sahar who had been sold off by her brother to a 30-year old stranger. She had been tortured daily by the stranger and his family, chained to a wall in a cellar, because she refused to work as a prostitute. The list goes on and on and shows that she has succeeded in achieving justice where others before her dared not go.
Surprisingly to me, Mrs. Motley used the Afghan law and the Quran to her advantage. The problem was not the law or the Quran, but the corruption and the incredible misogynism, where the relation between a woman and a man is that of a slave and his master. It was considered perfectly normal to sell a woman to settle debts. Contrary to popular belief, the practice did not start with the Taliban; it was a cultural norm long before the Taliban took over in 1996. What struck me perhaps even more was that Afghan women are so brainwashed, that they actually believe men to be superior to women, and that they believe persecution on the ground of "adultery by force" of a 16-year old girl Gulnaz who had been raped by her 40-year old cousin, to be just. When Kimberley had obtained a pardon from president Karzai for Gulnaz, the girl ended up in a women's shelter which was even more oppressive than prison.
I came across this book because the Dutch translation was released on 16 March 2020. It immediately caught my attention, and I bought the original English version a few days ago. This original version was released almost 8 months ago and has only 54 ratings and 5 reviews on Goodreads. How is this possible? Mrs. Motley deserves a huge audience and I cannot recommend her book enough.
November 10, 2019
This is the biography of how Motley moved from practicing law as a criminal defence attorney in the US legal system to moving to Afghanistan. In Afghanistan she was the first international lawyer to practice there and search and root out the injustices to the systems.
It's a fantastic story and a credit to her that she still persists today to practice law in Afghanistan and multiple other countries where international laws and culture are so different to the Western system many of us live in today. I do hope she continues on her path to help those that are suffering injustices due to divergent legal and cultural norms that silence minorities due to mysoginist cultures.
Great read and well done to her.
It's a fantastic story and a credit to her that she still persists today to practice law in Afghanistan and multiple other countries where international laws and culture are so different to the Western system many of us live in today. I do hope she continues on her path to help those that are suffering injustices due to divergent legal and cultural norms that silence minorities due to mysoginist cultures.
Great read and well done to her.
August 31, 2019
A fascinating look into an intriguing country by a highly intelligent woman at the top of her game. Learned a lot about life for ordinary Afghan people which surprised me.
July 18, 2020
Attorney Kimberley Motley started her career in her hometown of Milwaukee as a public defender; after a few years she was ready for a new challenge, especially one that would pay enough to move her family to a safer community. She joined the U.S. State Department’s Justice Sector Support Program (JSSP) in Afghanistan to help and advise Afghanistan on setting up their own criminal justice system. When she moved to Afghanistan, her husband and children moved to NC for her husband to attend law school. She soon realized that the JSSP was not really engaging with local attorneys, judges, and prison officials and she began cultivating these relationships and trying to deeply understand the traditions and laws of Afghanistan. At the end of her JSSP contract she stayed in Afghanistan and opened her own practice. She has helped countless ex-pats, immigrants, children, women, and many others forgotten or ignored by the Afghan legal system receive what she calls justness. She learned how to work with judges, studied the Koran to familiarize herself with religious laws and customs, developed relationships with embassy officials, and learned how to reach out to the President. While she does not categorize herself as a human-rights attorney, she certainly has helped countless women (and girls) claim their agency in a deeply misogynistic society. Motley is a fascinating and “badass” attorney, mother, woman, and writer. Verdict: Those interested in human rights, women’s rights, and the legal system will devour this book (along with her documentary film and TED talk). Highly recommended.
January 25, 2021
Reading and devouring this book in two days I had felt an extreme amount of emotions at times. Happiness, Anger, and Sadness permeates itself from the book directly onto the reader in such a way that I never had experienced with any other book I have read. Kimberley Motley, the people she represents, and the people that help her and defy the status quo are heroes and heroines that personally gives me incredible hope for humanity. The sacrifice that Motley goes through to consistently fight a fight she completely volunteers for as a woman of color from America with a family only makes this impact that much stronger. I hope everyone involved for making a more Just world only receive the highest blessings ever.
The context and work she does also doesn’t need to be limited to Afghanistan, a lot of countries not only have these basic humanitarian issues, but a lot of Western countries also contribute massively to the problem. As stated by how the British handled Bikram or the Americans handle humanitarian efforts. These first world countries also have socioeconomic issues that utilize their jurisprudence to, lack for a better word, subjugate certain groups of people. I could not recommend reading this enough. Thank you for everyone who contributed to making this story possible for me to read.
The context and work she does also doesn’t need to be limited to Afghanistan, a lot of countries not only have these basic humanitarian issues, but a lot of Western countries also contribute massively to the problem. As stated by how the British handled Bikram or the Americans handle humanitarian efforts. These first world countries also have socioeconomic issues that utilize their jurisprudence to, lack for a better word, subjugate certain groups of people. I could not recommend reading this enough. Thank you for everyone who contributed to making this story possible for me to read.
September 3, 2024
Wow! I feel blessed to have had the privilege of reading this book. When I started reading it, I never realised how inspired I would feel and how it would boost my confidence. It also opened my eyes to see some of the things I had been blinded to see and found difficult to accept in my life. I know that my life journey has been a long and winding road. And it has been quite challenging but with God”s help in sending helpful messages and encouraging people, I know that I will pull through in the end. Thank you Kim Motley for writing this inspiring book, as I needed to hear what my heart and head had been telling me all along. To wake up from my slumber. And I thank the lady (my support worker Thea) who told me about this book, I am indeed grateful and quite appreciative of this opportunity I was given to read this book. I intend on sharing this book with others who truly need to read it and hopefully, whose lives would be enriched by it as it has done mine. Again, thank you so much.
May 26, 2020
This book is mandatory for ALL. Accessible yet packed with tragic, real life tales sometimes sweetened by the ‘justness’ that Motley fights for and quite honestly sometimes not.
I originally read this book because I want to go into the law profession myself one day and thought it would be interesting for my personal statement. It was everything and more. Motley should be a household name for the revolutionary work she has done in Afghanistan - she is an unsung hero, especially in regards to women. I feel inspired upon finishing this but too enraged that not more is being done to aid the Farkhunda’s and Naghma’s of the world. Everyone needs to read this - to recognise their own privilege, the world and the injustices that happen every day.
I originally read this book because I want to go into the law profession myself one day and thought it would be interesting for my personal statement. It was everything and more. Motley should be a household name for the revolutionary work she has done in Afghanistan - she is an unsung hero, especially in regards to women. I feel inspired upon finishing this but too enraged that not more is being done to aid the Farkhunda’s and Naghma’s of the world. Everyone needs to read this - to recognise their own privilege, the world and the injustices that happen every day.
October 25, 2020
This book was AMAZING. So inspiring to read the story of Kimberley Motley, who is easily one of the most badass women I've ever heard about. The way that she moved to Afghanistan and began representing clients with the most interesting stories is nothing short of awe-inspiring. It's pretty unreal reading her story because it seems like she can brush off the most dangerous and disheartening circumstances with ease. I guess that just comes with 10+ years of living and working in Afghanistan. I'm really glad I read this as I begin my legal studies and I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in practicing law overseas!!
April 6, 2020
Fascinating journey through Ms Motley’s career, and the sacrifice she made for her family’s wellbeing. Fast paced and exciting story. I did feel the narrator had a very “me against the world” attitude, and rarely opted to give credit to anyone else around here for her achievements. Felt a very one-sided book about life as an ex-pat in Afghanistan, again a bit of a “no one really understands it but me” attitude, and quite disparaging and patronising of all the NGOs, charities, security companies working there. Still a very good read, and some worthy causes and plights highlighted.
May 22, 2022
5⭐️
At the age of 32 and as a mother of 3 and wife of 1, Kimberley Motley is looking for a career change. Tired of being a criminal defence attorney in Milwaukee USA, she lands a job that could not be anymore different - in the Justice Sector Support Program in Afghanistan.
As Motley leaves behind everything and everyone she’s ever known and relocates to Kabul, she soon becomes frustrated at the attitude of her co-workers and jaded at the process of just how much the American program is really ‘helping’ the Afghani legal process and its lawyers. Sick of being told to be quiet, Motley sacrifices everything she holds dear to become the first foreign lawyer practising in Afghanistan. Navigating not only the Afghani criminal justice system, she must also deal with Shari law in an area that is uncharted and new to not only foreign lawyers; but also female ones.
What comes next is life changing for Motley, making Lawless an absolute must read memoir that may well be one of the most inspiring books I’ve ever read.
Holy moly, what a read this was! Let me be clear, Lawless is not a book that you need to be a lawyer or have any knowledge of the legal profession in order to appreciate. Rather, it’s the memoir of a woman who showed up, spoke up and never gave up in the most trying and difficult of circumstances in a country where she didn’t speak the language and where the role of women is to stay home and be submissive to men.
What makes this such an amazing read is Motley’s canid writing. This is a no hold barred memoir and it’s certainly not all sunshine and rainbows. It recalls her frustrations with the American Government as an employer and in its attempts to ‘assist’ Afghanistan, her disillusionment at speaking up and speaking out, the toll her job took on her personal life, and the day to day dangers she was subjected to. Yet for all the negatives, the positives shine through and will leave you feeling powerful, inspired and proud of Motley.
Undoubtedly a book that everyone should read, Lawless by Kimberley Motley should go straight to the top of your to be read pile. Lawless is a five star read and I simply cannot recommend it enough.
To play along with my book bingo and to see what else I’m reading, go to #ktbookbingo and @kt_elder on Instagram.
At the age of 32 and as a mother of 3 and wife of 1, Kimberley Motley is looking for a career change. Tired of being a criminal defence attorney in Milwaukee USA, she lands a job that could not be anymore different - in the Justice Sector Support Program in Afghanistan.
As Motley leaves behind everything and everyone she’s ever known and relocates to Kabul, she soon becomes frustrated at the attitude of her co-workers and jaded at the process of just how much the American program is really ‘helping’ the Afghani legal process and its lawyers. Sick of being told to be quiet, Motley sacrifices everything she holds dear to become the first foreign lawyer practising in Afghanistan. Navigating not only the Afghani criminal justice system, she must also deal with Shari law in an area that is uncharted and new to not only foreign lawyers; but also female ones.
What comes next is life changing for Motley, making Lawless an absolute must read memoir that may well be one of the most inspiring books I’ve ever read.
Holy moly, what a read this was! Let me be clear, Lawless is not a book that you need to be a lawyer or have any knowledge of the legal profession in order to appreciate. Rather, it’s the memoir of a woman who showed up, spoke up and never gave up in the most trying and difficult of circumstances in a country where she didn’t speak the language and where the role of women is to stay home and be submissive to men.
What makes this such an amazing read is Motley’s canid writing. This is a no hold barred memoir and it’s certainly not all sunshine and rainbows. It recalls her frustrations with the American Government as an employer and in its attempts to ‘assist’ Afghanistan, her disillusionment at speaking up and speaking out, the toll her job took on her personal life, and the day to day dangers she was subjected to. Yet for all the negatives, the positives shine through and will leave you feeling powerful, inspired and proud of Motley.
Undoubtedly a book that everyone should read, Lawless by Kimberley Motley should go straight to the top of your to be read pile. Lawless is a five star read and I simply cannot recommend it enough.
To play along with my book bingo and to see what else I’m reading, go to #ktbookbingo and @kt_elder on Instagram.
August 9, 2023
Absolutely fantastic book. You can tell how passionate Kimberely is about her job and it shines through this book.
It opened my eyes to a lot of the injustices in Afghanistan in a realistic way. She does not sugar coat anything.
Overall, it is incredibly difficult to fault this book - it is a true reality check to what is occurring in countries in the Middle East.
It opened my eyes to a lot of the injustices in Afghanistan in a realistic way. She does not sugar coat anything.
Overall, it is incredibly difficult to fault this book - it is a true reality check to what is occurring in countries in the Middle East.
May 25, 2020
Inspiring story of one lawyer's quest for justness in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Kimberley never gave up her fight, broke through barriers and generally kicks ass. Truly inspiring, all she has achieved
June 17, 2020
Lawyer Kimberley Motley took a nine-month assignment in Kabul, and never looked back, becoming the first foreign litigator to practice in Afghanistan's conservative and male-dominated courts. This is a story of one very brave and tenacious lady!
August 23, 2024
An inspirational look into the life of an American lawyer experiencing and helping the significantly different legal system in Afghanistan. Motley's recollection of some of her most influentical cases serves as a fascinating must-read.
October 10, 2020
I loved reading this and learned so much I would highly recommend
November 3, 2020
Exciting, adventurous, and no BS look into what it’s like to be a biracial woman from Milwaukee practicing law in Afghanistan.
September 8, 2021
I could not put it down. A very interesting read that taught me a lot and changed my perspective.
March 8, 2022
Incredible stories and such an eye opener to a different country and their legal system
July 28, 2022
An inspirational and in some parts difficult read.
August 14, 2022
Loved this book. Very eye opening and moving, and at times harrowing and hard to read. Kim is an absolute powerhouse and following her journey felt unbelievable at times.
September 20, 2025
Definitely a great read and very insightful.
August 11, 2019
A fascinating look at what life is like as an American lawyer living and working in Afghanistan.
I loved how Kimberley put the reader in her shoes, sharing tales of corruption, heartbreak, frustration, fear and so much more.
What an incredible woman!
I loved how Kimberley put the reader in her shoes, sharing tales of corruption, heartbreak, frustration, fear and so much more.
What an incredible woman!
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews