Word: reichler
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Despite Washington's absence, there were in fact some Americans in the courtroom. Harvard Law Professor Abram Chayes, 63, formerly the chief State Department legal adviser, was serving on the Sandinista courtroom team, which had been assembled by another American, Paul Reichler, 38. Once a student of Chayes', Reichler has handled many legal problems for the Sandinistas...
While American lawyers often represent other nations in U.S. or foreign courts, it is rare for them to do so in an international dispute in which the U.S. is the defendant. "One does not become involved in a suit against one's own country lightly," says Reichler. "If my situation is unique, so are the circumstances in this case." American policy toward Nicaragua, he maintains, "is a violation of the most sacred principles that the U.S. stands for: respect for law and the peaceful resolution of disputes...
When the Sandinistas decided last year to take their case to the World Court, Reichler's first choice for his legal team was Chayes. "I thought about it for a long time," says Chayes, who during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis helped the State Department work out legal arguments supporting the blockade of Cuba. Described by colleagues as brilliant and impassioned, Chayes was drawn to the case partly by the magnitude of the questions it raises. "We are dealing here with the fundamental norms of international law," he explains. "It's not pettifoggery...
...month, much of the press, including TIME, treated the report as the work of a neutral observer, even though the document owned up to a number of circumstances that might have raised some questions about its objectivity. For one thing, the investigation was conceived by a Washington law firm (Reichler & Appelbaum) that represents the Sandinista government. For another, the two fact finders, New York Lawyer Reed Brody and Washington Law Student James Bordelon, lived in a government residence while in Managua and were given office space by the Sandinistas. The report, written by Brody, also noted that the Sandinistas...