Henry Harfield, widely recognised as one of the world's leading international financial lawyers and author on documentary credits, died in Manhattan earlier this month.

Harfield, who was 89, worked for his whole career at the New York law firm Shearman & Sterling, and authored the much cited "Bank Credits and Acceptances."

His work at Shearman and Sterling included helping to frame the legal and regulatory frameworks for international banking business in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Lead banks

He also gained a formidable reputation for his representations in court for leading bank clients in complex trade finance disputes. Harfield represented the firm's lead bank client, Citibank, as well as Bank of America, Harris Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia.

The New York lawyer developed the legal basis for negotiable certificates of deposits, thus paving the way for Citibank in 1961 to introduce certificates of deposit.

L/Cs for prisoners

In the wake of the Cuban revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, Harfield represented Citibank on Cuban expropriation cases and turned his attention to securing the return of captured Cuban refugees after the abortive 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

Working behind the scenes with US negotiators, Harfield worked to hatch and implement a scheme whereby the captives would be released in exchange for medical supplies. Harfield negotiated and prepared the Canadian bank documentary credits that guaranteed provision of the medical supplies that led to the prisoner release.

Clarity and humour

Harfield, who attended Yale University in 1934 and Columbia University School, is highly regarded as an author of great clarity and some humour, but it seems all of his books may now be out of print.

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