In its strict application, this policy prevented consular protection of American volunteers, such as those in the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, who enlisted in the armies of the Second Spanish Republic.
In October 1940, with Denmark under German occupation, Perkins successfully resisted attempts by the IBM Corporation to use diplomatic channels "to further (its) subsidiary's work with the Nazis there".
The younger Perkins, then a partner in the law firm of Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine, which was representing Kodak, admitted lying in an antitrust case brought against the company.
He specialized in antitrust litigation, with cases such as Hughes Tool Co. v. TWA,[10] and for years represented the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
[11] At the Center for Constitutional Rights, Perkins worked on behalf of the Corazon Aquino government of the Philippines, for the recovery of real estate from Ferdinand Marcos; the White Earth Nation, against the taking of land without just compensation; an association of Harvard alumni seeking South African divestiture;[12] Darryl King, for reversal of his wrongful murder conviction;[13] and Haitian victims of human rights abuses.