The courtroom as a war zone is an oft-referenced metaphor. For Paul Hastings partner Kirby Behre, who traveled to war-torn Afghanistan in his defense of a client, the allegory took on new meaning.
Behre, a former prosecutor, represented an Afghani contractor who had been accused by the U.S. government in 2008 of paying bribes in order to receive military contracts. Behre traveled to Kabul to gather evidence and depose witnesses for the case, and says that the information he collected there helped to significantly reduce the prison sentence of his client, Assad John Ramin, and his codefendant and brother, Tahir. The brothers, who were sentenced in early March, received about one-tenth of the time they initially faced.