He had begun to experiment with satyagraha-"truth force," or nonviolent resistance-but to all appearances he was a Johannesburg lawyer in a business suit.

"Amnesty is politically essential," a leading Johannesburg lawyer said.

"We're going to have to talk about things people usually don't talk about," the Johannesburg lawyer said.

James Sutherland, a Johannesburg lawyer who has taken on the case of the Barolong people, said the land was psychologically important to those who had been dispossessed.

In the statement he dictated to Ismail Ayob, a Johannesburg lawyer who has represented Mr. Mandela since 1972, Mr. Mandela insisted that the congress was his legitimate representative.

But then Katzen dies, and his son, a heartless Johannesburg lawyer, sells Buckingham Palace to the authorities.

Clive Plasket, a Johannesburg lawyer representing the communities, observed that "Braklaagte and Leeufontein have been plagued by violence and repression since they were incorporated into Bophuthatswana."

"It is appalling that Mr. Botha does not allow the courts to establish the true facts of the case," said Paul Jenkins, a Johannesburg lawyer.

The defense, led by Arthur Chaskalson, a Johannesburg lawyer, had argued that the burden was on the state to show that the defendants were trying to overthrow the state violently.

Silas Ali is a Johannesburg lawyer approaching 50 who has risen to prominence during Nelson Mandela's presidency.