Sands, Philippe 1960–

views updated

Sands, Philippe 1960–

(Philippe Joseph Sands)

PERSONAL: Born October 17, 1960, in London, England; son of Alan and Ruth (Buchholz) Sands; married Natalia Marien Schiffrin, June 5, 1993; children: Leo, Lara. Education: Cambridge University, England, B.A., 1982, L.L.M., 1983.

ADDRESSES: Office—Faculty of Laws, University College London, Bentham House, Endsleigh Gardens, London WC1H 0EG, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Lawyer, educator, editor, and writer. St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, England, research fellow, 1984–88; King's College, London, England, lecturer in law, 1988–93; London University School of Oriental and African Studies, lecturer in international law, 1993–97, reader in international law, 1997; Matrix Chambers, London, barrister; Foundation for International and Environmental Law and Development, London, cofounder, 1990, director, 1990–97; University of London, England, professor of international law, 2002–. New York University, New York, NY, visiting professor of law and director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals, University College, London, 1994; Soho Theatre Co., London, member of board of directors, 1996; Green Cross, London, 1995; has served as Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology.

WRITINGS:

(Editor and author of introduction) Chernobyl, Law and Communication: Transboundary Nuclear Air Pollution, the Legal Materials, Grotius Publications (Cambridge, England), 1988.

(Editor, with Joe Verhoeven and Maxwell Bruce) The Antarctic Environment and International Law, Graham & Trotman (London, England), 1992.

(Editor, with Richard Tarasofsky and Mary Weiss) Documents in International Environment Law, Manchester University Press (New York, NY), 1994, 2nd edition, edited with Paolo Galizzi, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY) 2004.

(Editor) Greening International Law, New Press (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor, with Richard G. Tarasofsky) Documents in European Community Environmental Law, Manchester University Press (New York, NY), 1995.

(General editor, with Daniel Bethlehem and James Crawford) International Environmental Law Reports, edited by Cairo A.R. Robb, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1999–2004.

(Editor, with Laurence Boisson de Chazournes) International Law, the International Court of Justice, and Nuclear Weapons, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor, with assistant editors Ruth Mackenzie and Yuval Shany) Manual on International Courts and Tribunals, Butterworths (London, England), 1999.

(Editor, with Richard L. Revesz and Richard B. Stewart) Environmental Law, the Economy, and Sustainable Development: The United States, the European Union, and the International Community, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2000.

(With Pierre Klein) Bowett's Law of International Institutions, Sweet & Maxwell (London, England), 2001.

(Editor) From Nuremberg to the Hague: The Future of International Criminal Justice, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2003.

(Editor, with Mark Lattimer) Justice for Crimes against Humanity, Hart (Portland, OR), 2003.

Principles of International Environmental Law, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules from FDR's Atlantic Charter to George W. Bush's Illegal War, Viking (New York, NY), 2005.

Articles on international, environmental and natural resources law have appeared in numerous publications.

SIDELIGHTS: Philippe Sands is an expert in international law and also has a strong interest in these laws as they pertain to governments and the environment. Sands has written or edited numerous books pertaining to these areas of interest. For example, he is editor of From Nuremberg to the Hague: The Future of International Criminal Justice, a collection of five essays covering topics such as the International Criminal Court's negotiation process and the relationship of current international law as it is traced back to the Nuremberg trials following World War II. Writing in the Michigan Law Review, Mark A. Drumbl noted, "The essays—concise and in places informal—carefully avoid legalese and arcania. Taken together, they cover an impressive spectrum of issues."

Sands is also the author of Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules from FDR's Atlantic Charter to George W. Bush's Illegal War. The author primarily addresses the issue of the country's stance under the leadership of President Bush that the United States can pick and choose the international laws it wishes to obey. Sands also details how the U.S. Congress passed a law that essentially gave the U.S. president the ability to use any tactics available to free Americans arrested by the Interna-tional Criminal Court. Writing in London's Guardian, Martin Jacques noted that the book is really about much more than the perception of the United States as a country unwilling to obey international law when it goes against its goals. Rather, Jacques noted that "it is far more important than that." He added, "In exploring the evolution of international law since the second world war, and the new American attitude of withdrawal and unilateralism, it goes to the very heart of the nature of the international order and its future." Jacques commented that the author "writes not as a dull international lawyer but as an astute observer of human situations." A Kirkus Reviews contributor commented, "Solid work. Those worried that the U.S. has become a rogue nation won't sleep any easier after reading this book." David Lakhdhir, writing in the New York Law Journal, commented that the author "thinks the United States (with British complicity) has gone seriously off course, and has written Lawless World as a wake-up call. In the process, he has written a highly readable, if disturbing, survey of the major current issues in international law."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Age (Melbourne, Australia), July 23, 2005, Julian Burnside, review of Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules from FDR's Atlantic Charter to George W. Bush's Illegal War.

Arbitration International, November, 2005, review of Lawless World, p. 438.

Guardian (London, England), March 26, 2005, Martin Jacques, review of Lawless World.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2005, review of Lawless World, p. 904.

Melbourne Journal of International Law, October, 2005, Phillippe Sands, "Lawless World: International Law after September 11, 2001 and Iraq," p. 437.

Michigan Law Review, May, 2005, Mark A. Drumbl, review of From Nuremberg to the Hague: The Future of International Criminal Justice, p. 1295.

New York Law Journal, October 26, 2005, David Lakhdhir, review of Lawless World.

Observer (London, England), March 6, 2005, John Kampfner, review of Lawless World.

Publishers Weekly, September 5, 2005, review of Lawless World, p. 50.