Judging Iran

Judging Iran Synopsis

From a divided Berlin to the Hague, the Reagan White House, Nigeria, 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 around the world and to the heart of our most pressing issues, including human rights, environmentalism, globalization, and governmental ethics. He eventually became the most-appointed American judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice at the Hague, a tenure interrupted only by his time as an advisor to President Ronald Reagan at the height of the Iran- Contra scandal. 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.

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.