Louis B. Sohn, specialist in international law; at 92

Dr. Louis B. Sohn liked to say that the giraffe was his favorite animal, telling friends and colleagues: ``It has its head in the clouds, but its feet on the ground."

The same idea guided much of his career as the onetime Harvard Law School professor became one of the world's top legal specialists in international law.

Unlike the giraffe, however, ``He didn't have his head in the clouds," said Jon Van Dyke, a former student who is now a professor at the University of Hawaii. ``He was a down-to-earth person. He was always interested in the practical side of things. He wanted to build a legal system that would make the world a better place."

Dr. Sohn died June 7 at his home in Falls Church, Va., from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 92.

Born in Lviv, Ukraine, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he studied in Poland, earning degrees in law and science in 1935 at John Casimir University. His publications drew attention in the United States and an invitation for research and study at Harvard Law School. He left Poland on one of the last vessels to depart before Germany invaded the country.

Arriving in Cambridge, he was told that the professor who invited him had died. A law school dean helped him find a job at one of the university's cafeterias and an affordable room to rent. He received a law degree in 1940 and began teaching at the university the following year. He received a doctorate in juridical science in 1961.

``A lot of professors write articles about theory," said Daniel Magraw, president of the Center for International Environmental Law. ``He was not afraid to say `OK, let's try to make a difference here.' "

Many specialists in the field say he did just that, playing an important role in the development of human rights laws and laws that govern the world's oceans.

Many of his students went on to work in the diplomatic ranks in countries around the world and continued to seek his counsel on complex legal matters.

``He was indeed a giant in academia, interspersed with pragmatism, and [was] a great hero of our times," Donald Kaniaru, a former Kenyan government and United Nations official, said in a statement. ``We can console ourselves that his invaluable thoughts and ideas remain in the public domain for humanity."

Dr. Sohn's writings have become staples for many students interested in the laws that reach across continental borders.

His efforts to include human rights laws in the UN Charter and his insistence that countries consider a dispute settlement process when it comes to the Law of the Sea were lauded by scholars as critically important in shaping international law.

While many nay-sayers doubted that international laws would be effective, Dr. Sohn ``made the rest of us appreciate how there were sources of law that one could look to and apply and require countries to adhere to," Van Dyke said.

Among many positions he held, Dr. Sohn worked at the US State Department and was US counsel in two cases before the International Court of Justice.

In 1972, he was a key player at the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. He also helped establish the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and helped craft disarmament agreements between countries. He wrote the environmental sections of the American Law Institute's Restatement of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States, and proposed a Law of the Sea Tribunal, carefully constructing each piece of text to make sure it was sensitive to the needs of the countries involved.

``He could go out and listen to people and come back and put it all together," Magraw said.

In the classroom, he was popular among students for his matter-of-fact presentation and for making the connection between theory and practical applications, former students said. In seminars, he liked to push students to solve problems collectively, reminding them to consider unintended consequences of their actions, and kept lively discussions from derailing.

He left Harvard in 1981 to join the faculty of the University of Georgia. A decade later, he joined the US Institute of Peace and the George Washington University Law School faculty.

``He really was a visionary, and he never stopped," Magraw said.

Dr. Sohn leaves his wife of 65 years, Elizabeth (Mayo).