Monroe Leigh, 82; International Law Specialist Advised Kissinger

Monroe Leigh, a leading authority in international and human rights law who was legal advisor to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and who served as president of the American Society of International Law, has died. He was 82.

Leigh died Tuesday of congestive heart failure after collapsing in his office at the Washington law firm of Steptoe & Johnson.

He had worked on Kissinger’s staff during the Ford administration. He was a principal author of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, the law establishing the jurisdiction and rules of procedure for bringing foreign governments before U.S. courts.

From 1975 to 1980, he served as a U.S. member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, and from 1986 until his death, he was on the panel of arbitrators for the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.

In the 1980s, he served as president of the American Society of International Law and on the board of editors of the American Journal of International Law.

Leigh was a member of government advisory groups on the law of the sea, international investment and trade, and international law. He was president of the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American branch of the International Law Assn.

Leigh was a native of Halifax, Va., and a magna cum laude graduate of Hampden-Sydney College. He taught high school Latin prior to World War II and served in the Army Air Forces in Europe during the war.

After graduating from the University of Virginia law school, he was associated for three years with the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling, then went to work for the State Department, where he was assigned to the U.S. mission to the North Atlantic Council.

In 1953, he joined the Defense Department, where he became assistant general counsel for international affairs and helped negotiate treaties. In 1959, he joined Steptoe & Johnson to specialize in international trade law, international dispute resolution, and U.S. regulations involving national security and foreign policy interests. He was managing partner of the firm’s international law department.

He represented foreign investors in disputes over properties seized following the Cuban revolution. His clients included Texaco.

Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Mary Gallaher Leigh of Bethesda and Hillsboro, both in Maryland; three children, Edward, Parker and Elizabeth Leigh, all of Washington; and three grandchildren.