If his goal is not to actually implement the algorithm, but just to discuss or understand it, he can use the lawyers to his advantage. He's already received the two US patent numbers, which contain published (and freely publishable) text describing the algorithm in great detail. And, since the lawyers are interested in the international implications, it should be simple for them to provide a list of (or better yet, the full text of) all international patents granted or applied for.
My point is not that software patents (or patents in general) are good or bad or harmful or useful. My point is that, for better or worse, a patent represents an exchange-- the inventor is granted a limited-time monopoly on the implementation of an innovation in exchange for publication of the details.