Originally From World Arbitration and Mediation Review (WAMR)

ANDREA BJORKLUND: I am sorry to interrupt, but I am delighted to be doing so because I get to introduce to you our luncheon speakers. We are very fortunate to have Charlie Brower agree to submit himself to questioning and a conversation with his son, Chip. No one could be more qualified to engage in this activity. This is part of the ITA’s Oral History Project, where we, under the leadership of the Academic Council, are attempting to capture the stories and histories of the most eminent arbitrators in the world. We are very pleased to have Charlie agree to be part of our series.

I will introduce them each to you very, very briefly. Charlie Brower, of course, is a judge on the Iran–U.S. Claims Tribunal and a member of 20 Essex Street Chambers, and a former Acting Legal Advisor at the State Department, Deputy Special Counselor to the U.S. President, and partner at White & Case LLP. He was the president of ASIL and chair of ITA’s Advisory Board. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including ITA’s Pat Murphy Award, ASIL’s Manley O. Hudson Medal, and Berkley Law’s Stefan A. Riesenfeld Award.

His son, Chip, who will pose questions to his father today, is a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and is also Of Counsel at Miller Canfield. Chip has 15 years of teaching experience. Prior to moving to Wayne State, he was the Croft Professor of International Law at the University of Mississippi. He, too, is an arbitrator and has experience as counsel including representing Costa Rica at the International Court of Justice. He is a vice chair of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, a director of the Atlanta International Arbitration Society, and the winner of the Smit-Lowenfeld Award for best article published in arbitration in 2012. So without further ado, I am going to turn the floor over to Charlie and Chip.