The first association with the name of "Lawyers Without Borders" was initiated by a core group of human rights lawyers in Brussels, Belgium, in 1992. Following the Rwandan genocide in 1994, LWB Belgium initiated its first large-scale project entitled “Justice for all in Rwanda”. The project offered victims of the Rwandan genocide and accused alike the services of volunteer lawyers, so as to facilitate more equitable trials following the genocide.

In 1998 the French association of LWB was founded by François Cantier and since then, the movement has spread to a number of other countries within Europe, Africa and the Americas, with the most active sections in Belgium, France and Canada.

The Canadian association of LWB was first conceptualized by Dominique-Anne Roy in 2002, following a meeting with the president of LWB France. Dominique-Anne Roy joined with Pierre Brun and Pascal Paradis in founding the Canadian association of LWB Canada in Québec. LWB Canada (LWBC) was founded for the purpose of contributing to the international solidarity efforts of other LWB groups by building on the professional experience of lawyers and other volunteers from Québec.

Today, LWBC is an organization for the defence of human rights, managing international cooperation programs and dozens of yearly missions in various countries predominantly within South America. LWBC counts on permanent staff in Québec as well as staff on the ground within various countries in providing vulnerable groups with access to justice. LWBC strives for the advancement of human rights for vulnerable groups, so that we may live in a society with justice and solidarity.