Boston Partner Scrutinizes Legal Process at Guantanamo Bay

Last fall, Sabin Willett, a prominent Boston attorney and pro bono advocate for Guantanomo detainees, delivered the Annual Shapiro Lecture in Trial Advocacy at Boston University’s School of Law. In the lecture, entitled “New Law or No Law? The Men Without a Country at Guantanamo Bay,” Willett examined the imprisonment, secret acquittal and continued detainment of non-enemy combatants by the U.S. Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Although Willett works as a partner with leading Boston law firm Bingham McCutchen, LLP and concentrates his practice in commercial and bankruptcy litigation, he also acts as the pro bono advocate for a group of Turkic Muslims, known as "Uighurs," who fled Communist Chinese rule and have been imprisoned for three years at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, despite having been cleared of all charges.

Willett delved deep into wartime legal proceedings and the relevance of the Geneva Conventions before an audience as part of the School’s principal endowed lectureship focusing on trial advocacy and legal ethics. “The law of war, if it ever was well understood in America,” he said, “is no longer.”

Willett examined the political and legal climate of America at war, dissecting the public responsibility for action.

“I want you to understand that Gitmo is a monstrous, political lie,” Willett said.

Read the full transcript of the lecture: Download PDF

[The Max M. Shapiro Lecture is the School’s principal endowed lectureship focusing on trial advocacy and legal ethics.]

- Jane Coulter