Philippe Sands

Philippe Sands
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Born	(1960-10-17) 17 October 1960
Nationality	United Kingdom
Notable work	Lawless World Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values
Era	Modern
Region	England
School	Western

Philippe Sands, QC (born 17 October 1960) is a British and French lawyer at Matrix Chambers, and is Professor of International law at University College London.

Sands wrote Lawless World (2006), in which he accused US President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair of conspiring to invade Iraq in violation of international law. His next book, Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values (2008), dealt with the decisions by top US policymakers to use torture in interrogation of suspects in the war on terror. He also was the first to refer to the Bush–Blair memo that contained the claim that Bush wanted to lure Saddam Hussein's forces to shoot down a UN plane.

The Guardian reported Sands's claims about the memo, which stated that Bush had proposed trying to provoke the Iraqis to fire on fighter planes in United Nations colours.

Early life and education

He read law at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (BA 1982, LL.M. first class 1984), Sands was called to the Bar in 1985.

Career

He has held academic positions at St Catharine's College, Cambridge (1984–88), King's College London (1988–91), the New York University School of Law (1994–2003), and the School of Oriental and African Studies (1989–2002), where he founded the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development. He took up his present post as a Professor of Laws and the Director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals at University College London in 2002.

After nearly two decades of academic law and private practice, he was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2003, and appointed a Bencher of the Middle Temple in 2009.

In 2008, he testified before the United States House Judiciary Committee Hearing: From the Department of Justice to Guantanamo Bay: Administration Lawyers and Administration Interrogation Rules and United States Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing: Coercive Interrogation Techniques: Do They Work, Are They Reliable, and What Did the FBI Know About Them?.

Jane Mayer reported in The New Yorker on Sands' reaction to news that Spanish jurist Baltazar Garzon had received motions requesting that six former Bush officials (Alberto Gonzales John Yoo, Douglas Feith, William Haynes II, Jay Bybee, and David Addington) be charged with war crimes.

Mayer reported that when Sands's book was published, the prediction that the six men would be charged seemed far-fetched. The Spanish government decided against pursuing the prosecution. In the same report Mayer recorded Sands's apparent reluctance to represent General Pinochet in his extradition proceedings. She says that Sands declined the case, but went on to appear against Pinochet.

Sands has acted as Counsel in many international disputes before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He serves as an Arbitrator in investment disputes, including at the World Bank’s International Centre for Investment Disputes.

Sands is a

• Member, Court of Arbitration for Sport, Lausanne, Switzerland * Director, Centre on International Courts and Tribunals, University College London's Faculty of Laws
• Member (formerly) of the UK government-appointed Commission on a Bill of Rights

Sands writes frequently for the Financial Times and the Guardian, and is an occasional contributor to the London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books and Vanity Fair. His new book, on the origins of "crimes against humanity" and "genocide", will be published by Alfred Knopf.

He is on the board of English PEN and of the Tricycle Theatre.

In September 2015, he advocates the creation of a world court that should "rule on climate science to quash sceptics".

Family

Sands lives in London with his wife and three children.

External links

• Philippe Sands official profile, UCL Faculty of Laws
• Works by or about Philippe Sands in libraries (WorldCat catalog)