Obituaries - July 16, 2000

Keith Highet, 67, a lawyer who handled more cases before the International Court of Justice at The Hague than any other American lawyer. “He must have handled at least 15 cases before the International Court of Justice, and always with great scholarship, insight and legal flair,” said Stephen M. Schwebel, a former judge and president of the International Court of Justice. At the time of his death, Highet was serving as counsel to the governments of Indonesia and Cameroon in cases pending before the international court. Earlier this year, he was a member of a committee of international law experts appointed to advise the prime minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina on fighting corruption in that country. He was also an advisor to the government of Peru in resolving its border dispute with Equador. After the ouster of Ferdinand E. Marcos, Highet served Philippine President Corazon Aquino as the chairman of the panel of legal experts in her Commission on Good Government. Born in Oxford, England, Highet was the son of Helen MacInnes, the author of several spy novels. He earned a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Harvard in 1954 and then entered the Marine Corps. After his discharge, he was a Fulbright Fellow, studying at Balliol College at Oxford University, and then earned a degree from the Harvard Law School in 1960. On Wednesday at his home in Washington of complications from esophageal cancer.