Lawfare was founded as a blog in September 2010[3] by Benjamin Wittes (a former editorial writer for The Washington Post), Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith, and University of Texas at Austin law professor Robert Chesney.

[2] Its contributors include legal scholars, law students, and former George W. Bush and Barack Obama administration officials.

"[4] Lawfare's coverage of intelligence and legal matters related to the Trump administration has brought the website significant increases in readership and national attention.

[8] On May 18, 2017, Lawfare's editor-in-chief Benjamin Wittes was the principal source of an extensive New York Times report about President Trump's interactions with FBI Director James Comey, who is a friend of Wittes, and how those interactions related to Comey's subsequent firing.

[11][12] Columnist David Ignatius described Lawfare as "one of the most fair-minded chroniclers of national security issues".