The lawyer leading the Philippine team in its fierce legal battle against China belongs to a select group of elite lawyers with extensive experience in representing sovereign states before the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (Itlos) in Hamburg, Germany, according to Chambers Global, which ranks law firms and lawyers across the world.

Paul Reichler of the Boston-based law firm Foley Hoag has specialized for more than 25 years in land and maritime boundary disputes, the law firm said on its website.

Reichler works with four other lawyers from the United States and the United Kingdom, in arguing the country’s case before the UN arbitral tribunal in The Hague, The Netherlands.

During the first two days of arguments, the legal team presented arguments as to why the five-member arbitral panel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration headquartered in The Hague had jurisdiction over the Philippines’ case.

The Philippines set the arbitration case in motion beginning 2013 in the hope of halting China’s aggressive incursions into the country’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Read more: http://www.filipinoexpress.com/news/2135-us-lawyer-for-ph-expert-in-maritime-boundary-cases