Harry R. Sachse came to the firm after serving from 1971 to 1976 as an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States, U.S. Department of Justice. In this role, he briefed numerous cases, and argued ten major cases in the Supreme Court, including such historic tribal rights cases as McClanahan v. Arizona Tax Commission, 411 U.S. 164 (1973) (state taxation of reservation income), Washington Department of Game v. Puyallup Tribe, 414 U.S. 44 (1973) (Indian fishing rights), Mattz v. Arnett, 412 U.S. 481 (1973) (reservation boundaries), United States v. Mazurie, 419 U.S. 544 (1975) (tribal governmental powers), and Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535 (1974) (preference in the hiring of Native Americans). Immediately before that, Mr. Sachse had been Assistant General Counsel of the Agency for International Development.

Since joining the firm, Mr. Sachse has engaged in litigation and negotiations concerning land claims, hydropower, oil and gas issues, water rights and gaming. He was the principal attorney in the Puyallup Land Settlement and the Colville Grand Coulee Settlement − two of the largest Indian settlements in recent times. Mr. Sachse is the principal author of the chapter on the powers of Indian tribes in the 1982 revised edition of Cohen's treatise on federal Indian law. He has taught comparative and commercial law at Tulane School of Law and Stanford Law School and has taught classes in appellate advocacy at the University of Virginia and Indian law at Virginia and Harvard Schools of Law. He received his undergraduate degree in 1955 and his J.D. in 1957 from Louisiana State University where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Louisiana Law Review . Mr. Sachse also holds a diploma in comparative law from the University of Paris.