Shearman & Sterling pro bono work on behalf of Guantanamo detainees

Several attorneys working for Shearman & Sterling were prominent in the efforts coordinated by the Center for Constitutional Rights to provide pro bono legal aid for the Guantanamo captives.

In the fall of 2006 a Bush Presidency appointee, Cully Stimson, at the time the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, questioned the patriotism of lawyers who aided Guantanamo captives, and suggested that large Corporate clients should boycott the services of firms whose lawyers worked on behalf of Guantanamo captives.cite web
url=http://www.legal500.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2848&Itemid=93&l5country_code=usv1&l5directory=us500&Itemid=592
title=Lawyers unite in disgust at Guantánamo controversy: State Department official resigns after pro bono attack
author=Tom Freeman
date=March 2007
publisher=Legal 500
accessdate=July 15
accessyear=2007] (Stimson himself is a lawyer by training and former U.S. Navy JAG officer.) Stimson's remarks were widely criticized. Stimson offered a partial apology for his comments. Nonetheless, this did not stem the controversy, and Stimson ultimately resigned from his appointment.

uicide attack

In April 2008, Abdallah Saleh Ali Al Ajmi, one of the team's clients who had been released, had conducted a suicide attack against Iraqi security forces in Mosul, Iraq.cite news
url=http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL0176218520080501?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
title=Ex-Guantanamo inmate in Iraq suicide bombing: TV
publisher=Reuters
date=Thursday May 1, 2008
accessdate=2008-05-1] cite news
url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/01/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Guantanamo-Bomber.php
title=Report: Former Guantanamo detainee carried out Iraq suicide attack
publisher=International Herald Tribune
date=May 2 2008
accessdate=2008-05-01] [cite news
url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hJT3dj9kUVLfj0UDAuEUDhZDI-LQD90GTVB82
title=U.S.: Ex-Guantanamo prisoner carried out Iraq suicide attack
publisher=Associated Press
date=May 7 2008
accessdate=2008-05-07]

References