Judging Iran
A Memoir of The Hague, The White House, and Life on the Front Line of International Justice
A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST INDIE BOOK OF 2023
From a divided Berlin to The Hague, the Reagan White House, the forests of Costa Rica, and more, Judge Charles N. Brower shares a personal history of a life spent at the forefront of international justice—and a case for the role of law in preserving global peace.
A judge of the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal for four decades, Charles N. Brower is an internationally recognized leader in arbitration and has handled cases on six continents. With quick wit and a keen eye for adventure, he takes readers on a tour of his extraordinary career.
As a young lawyer fresh from Harvard, Brower quickly made partner at a Wall Street firm. After just four months, however, he left the expected path to join the U.S. State Department, embarking on a career that put him in the thick of Cold War Europe and led to a lifelong focus on international law.
Brower’s drive carried him to the heart of pressing issues, including globalization, governmental ethics, environmentalism, and human rights. At each stop, Brower encountered criminals and victims, advocates and miscreants, especially at the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal, where heated disagreements between judges once erupted into physical violence. His work at The Hague was interrupted only by his time as an advisor to President Ronald Reagan at the height of the Iran–Contra scandal, and Brower eventually became the most-appointed American judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice.
Judging Iran is a frank insider account of the highest echelons of international law. As an active judge to this day, Brower offers a nuanced history of modern arbitration between nations, from our earliest concept of international law to today’s efforts for justice. And, as a global citizen, he argues that the law is essential in our work for peace.
Judge Charles N. Brower’s career in the law spans six decades, combining extensive practice at the bar with distinguished public service.
A Fulbright scholar and graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Judge Brower quickly made partner at the White & Case Law firm on Wall Street, before joining the U.S. State Department, where he became the acting legal adviser. Judge Brower continued to alternate between law practice and public service in DC, and later joined Twenty Essex barristers’ chambers in London.
Judge Brower has served forty years as a judge of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, a role briefly interrupted by his time in the White House as deputy special counsellor to the president. He is also the most-appointed American judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice.
Judge Brower has received the American Society of International Law’s highest honor, the Manley O. Hudson Medal. His authoritative volume The Iran-United States Claims Tribunal was awarded the American Society of International Law’s Certificate of Merit.
Judge Brower lives in the DC area, where he served recently as distinguished visiting research professor of law at George Washington University’s Law School. He continues there as advisor to S.J.D. candidates.
