Neysan Sobhani left the comfort of a well-paid job as a corporate lawyer with leading Bermuda law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman in exchange for a short-term contract without pay in the Netherlands.

Why? When looked at from the perspective of the bare economic details, one might indeed wonder what the young lawyer had in mind. But the decision could be said to have been rich in other ways with the move giving Mr. Sobhani the opportunity to work in two of the United Nation's criminal courts.

At the very least he said, it is a decision he doesn't regret - and it was short term, with his planning to return to legal work in Bermuda by the end of the year.

Indeed, for the last four months Mr. Sobhani - who is married to a Bermudian - has had an opportunity that many lawyers would give their eye teeth for, even on a pro bono basis.

That was a contract with the Trial Chamber II of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and he has now been given a second short-term contract beginning next month with the International Court of Justice.

Mr. Sobhani said that despite the expectation that lawyers will at least work on a pro bono basis, there is actually a lot of competition with many vying for appointments to one of the three UN courts - the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Court and the UN's main court for complaints from states, the International Court of Justice - in The Hague.

He added that those interested in taking up a post with one of these courts see working for free, at least for a time, as expected.

“Almost everyone who gets a position goes on a pro bono basis. It is sort of a strange culture; you have to prove that you are looking out for the well-being of others and not just yourself.”

For his part, Mr. Sobhani applied to both the ICTY and the International Criminal Court in The Hague after a friend finished a contract there and raved about the experience.

But it was right in line with interests that Mr. Sobhani has held, one could say since childhood, in international relations.

Personal experience meant that Mr. Sobhani, who is Persian, was aware of the UN long before many would be.

“The whole reason I am interested in international relations could be said to be because of my background which is international. I was born in Germany, then lived in Iran for a year or two. But we then left Iran because of the civil war and persecution under the aegis of the UN to go to Sri Lanka. We lived there for five years but then left there when their civil war started, again under the aegis of the UN, to go to Canada.

“I was quite young when my family was involved in the UN and probably alot younger than most people first encountering the UN.”

He continued: “World affairs were uppermost in my mind with fleeing twice; that is why my interests lie in this area and with conflict resolution.”

That carried through to extracurricular activities while a university student, Mr. Sobhani said.

“All of my nonprofessional activities have been directed, from university onwards, towards conflict resolution, peace studies and political science to international relations,” he said, with Mr. Sobhani earning an undergraduate degree in international relations from McGill University in Canada before going on to study law.

While at university, he was also involved in bringing together Arab and Israelis in the academic environment for dialogue.

When asked if his background had anything to do with his interest in the Arab-Israeli dialogue, he said: “I'm from the Middle East so that area immediately interested me and spurred me on to do political science (in university).

“This is where my interest lies,” he said, indicating that once the idea of going to one of the UN courts in The Hague was planted, it quickly took root.

Given his interests, Mr. Sobhani said he has many friends in international arenas, and stays in close contact with them on various issues and heard from one friend who had just finished a three-month period at the international criminal court.

“That convinced me to write to them, to see if they would take me on for a few months.”

To cover his bases, Mr. Sobhani wrote to two of the three courts under the UN , the UN Tribunal Court for the former Yugoslavia as well as the UN International Criminal Court

As luck would have it, he heard back from the former in late November last year, within a few weeks while on safari in Africa. And then he was given the opportunity to work for the latter starting next month.

Now he has been given a second four month contract, but this time with the UN International Criminal Court, where he will be working in the office of the prosecutor, in the legal advisory division.

Mr. Sobhani is a graduate of Montreal's McGill University, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in political science. He moved from Canada to Australia as a newlywed with wife Elizabeth Walker-Sobhani, who is now director of Strategic Initiatives for ACE Limited, and studied law at the University of Sydney, Australia (LL.B) and went on to receive his Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice at the College of Law, Australia.

He also received his World Order Studies certification from Landegg University, Switzerland in 1995. He was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia.

Prior to joining CD&P, Mr. Sobhani practised law in Sydney, Australia. During that time he specialised in service provider regulatory issues, service provider agreements, anti-competitive law, misleading and deceptive conduct, IT contractual and litigious work, as well as product development of legal technology tools.

Although there may seem to be a wide gap between corporate law and international criminal law, Mr. Sobhani said working in law firms in the corporate area gave him a solid legal grounding.

“Everyone I spoke to said it was important to have good training and grounding in the law, and the best place to get that training is in a law firm, where they have the resources to train young solicitors. So when I graduated, I went to a medium size law firm in Australia. At the same time I was also working for a new start-up company that delivered legal, web-based products as business development manager,” he said.

Through the rest of the year, Mr. Sobhani will continue to follow his passion for seeing justice service on an international scale through work at the ICC, but he said he will also be only too happy to come home to Bermuda at the end.

“I felt I should go for this when the opportunity came up as so many people don't get this kind of opportunity. But let me make it clear, I am really looking forward to coming back to Bermuda,” he said.