Christic Institute

The Christic Institute was a liberal public interest law firm founded in 1980 by Daniel Sheehan, his wife, Sara Nelson and their partner, William J. Davis, who was a Jesuit priest. Its headquarters were based in Washington, D.C. with several offices in other major United States cities, such as San Francisco, California.

The institute first gained national prominence in a successful lawsuit against the Kerr-McGee Nuclear Power Company, representing Karen Silkwood, a battle that was later made into the motion picture, Silkwood.

The law firm's most high-profile case was its involvement in suing CIA officials and ex-officials who it claimed were involved in the Iran-Contra scandal of the mid-1980s. The Christic Institute respresented two journalists, Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey involving the La Penca bombing in Nicaragua.

After the judge dismissed the Christic Iran-Contra case, Avirgan complained that Sheehan had handled matters poorly by chasing unsubstantiated "wild allegations" and conspiracy theories, rather than paying attention to core factual issues.[1]