Sovereign Immunity Litigation in the United States and Canada: A Lawyer's Manual on Evidence and Burden of Proof for Every Phase of the Trial

Pierre F. Walter presents a comparative law analysis that spans two of the seven existing national statutes on foreign sovereign immunity, the United States' Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 1976, and the Canadian State Immunity Act, 1982.The study concludes in demonstrating two distinct rules of the burden of proof, for each kind of immunity; the rules are widely uniform, and were corroborated by case law and scholarly opinion in both of the examined jurisdictions. In addition, they can be said to form today rules of international law.The monograph is of high practical importance for international lawyers and government counsel in both the United States and Canada. It can be taken as a reference guide for foreign sovereign immunity litigation in these important jurisdictions.Pierre F. Walter shows in this study that solid knowledge of procedural rules and the law of evidence in sovereign immunity litigation is often the basis of winning a case.While this is generally so, it is of even more importance in the highly complex trials that involve foreign sovereign immunity. The law firm stands out that can anticipate the judge's assessment of the burden of proof situation in every phase of the trial, thereby reducing cost for the client and substantially shifting probability up for winning the case.