Leonard Orland

"Leonard Orland [has provided an]...informed account of this epic litigation and settlement of the claims of Holocaust victims against Swiss banks. He has written a clear-headed and sympathetic account based on intimate knowledge of the record of these extraordinary cases, which ended by bringing a measure of justice to victims of Nazi murder and plunder and the denial of rightful claims by Swiss financial institutions. In successive chapters, he presents a concise history of Nazi depredations and Swiss denials of responsibility for accounts maintained by victims of the Holocaust, and the litigation in American courts to vindicate long-ignored claims. Professor Orland’s account permits a reader to understand the claims asserted in this massive litigation as well as the unique role of the American judicial system in managing and resolving human rights class actions. This important and praiseworthy book will deserve the attention of students of the American justice system, and of the persistence of memory of the Holocaust, for generations to come."

The Honorable José Cabranes
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit