Charles H. Norchi

Charles H. Norchi
Born	Dublin, Ireland
Nationality	American, Irish
Alma mater	Harvard College Case Western Reserve University School of Law Yale Law School
Occupation	International legal academic
Spouse	Amanda Lynch

Charles H. Norchi is the Benjamin Thompson Professor of Law at the University of Maine School of Law, director of the Center for Oceans and Coastal Law ^[1] of the University of Maine School of Law, a faculty member of the Climate Change Institute ^[2] and Graduate School of the University of Maine, and a Visiting Scholar at Brown University’s Institute at Brown for Environment and Society ^[3] and Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. ^{[4] [5]}

Education

Norchi received a A.B. degree from Harvard College in 1979, where he studied Government, concentrating in international relations. ^[6] He received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1986. ^[7] He received a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in 1989 and a Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D.) in 2006 from Yale Law School, ^[8] during which time he was a Ford Foundation Fellow, a Mellon Foundation Fellow and a Myres S. McDougal Fellow at the Law School. ^[9]

Academia

Norchi joined faculty of the University of Maine School of Law in 2004. There he teaches International Law; Arctic Law, Science and Policy; ^[10] Oceans Law and Policy; ^[11] Maritime Law; ^[12] and Interdisciplinary Complex Problem-Solving. ^[13]

Norchi was a human rights fellow in the Human Rights Program (HRP) at Harvard Law School ^[14] 2004-2005, a research fellow in the Center for Public Leadership ^[15] and the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University 2005-2012. He has been visiting professor at City University of Hong Kong School of Law 2010-2013 and at Peking University Law School (Beida) in 2014. ^[2] Norchi held teaching appointments in various undergraduate institutions, including Smith College and Sarah Lawrence College. ^[14]

Norchi was awarded the Fulbright-Iceland Ministry of Foreign Affairs Arctic Chair at the University of Iceland in 2018. ^{[16] [17]} He is on the leadership team of a US$3 million grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) Program to support Arctic interdisciplinary training 2020-2025. ^{[18] [19]}

Norchi was President of The Society of Policy Scientists, 2020-2022. ^[20] He is a member of the Advisory Board of the International Association of Maritime and Port Executives (IAMPE). ^[21] Norchi has served as Chairperson, 2018-2021, and Treasurer, 2021-present, of the Admiralty and Maritime Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). ^[22]

He was elected a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science in 2019. ^{[23] [24]}

Journalism

Norchi covered the war in Afghanistan during the 1980’s. His feature writing and commentary has appeared in the Boston Globe, ^[25] Cleveland Plain Dealer, ^[26] International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times ^[27] and New York Times. ^[28]

Since 2019, Norchi has been writing about the Arctic and, in particular, Greenland. His work has been published in the Portland Press Herald, ^[29] Global Geneva ^[30] and the Journal of the North Atlantic & Arctic ^[31]

Human rights and development

As Executive Director of the War Crimes Project of the Committee for a Free Afghanistan, Norchi co-directed the Independent Counsel for International Human Rights ^[14] with James J. Busuttil. He was the Executive Director of the International League for Human Rights. ^[14] Norchi was the Evaluation Team Lead for the United Nations Development Programme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2007. ^[32] He has been a law and development consultant for the World Bank and private sector clients.

The Royal Asiatic Society launched a prize named after Norchi in 2024. The annual "Charles H. Norchi Prize" is awarded for the publication of a book on Afghanistan in English. ^[33]

Selected publications

Book

• Charles H. Norchi and Gwenaele Proutière-Maulion (eds.), Piracy in Comparative Perspective: Problems, Strategies, Law (Editions Pedone/Hart, 2012) ISBN   9781849464420

Journal articles

• 'Sea Ice and the Law of the Sea: The Myth of Article 234' (with Amanda H. Lynch), Vol. 29, No. 2 (2025) Ocean and Coastal Law Journal, pp. 367-392 ISSN   1073-8843 ^[34]
• 'The Public Order of the Arctic: Problems and Prospects', Vol. 29, No. 2 (2024) Ocean and Coastal Law Journal, pp. 171-180 ISSN   1073-8843 ^[35]
• 'Sanctions or sea ice: Costs of closing the Northern Sea Route' (with Michael A. Goldstein, Amanda H. Lynch and Xueke Li), Vol. 50, Article 103257 (2022) Finance Research Letters ISSN   1544-6131 ^[36]
• 'Arctic Navigation and Climate Change: Projections from Science for the Law of the Sea' (with Amanda H. Lynch), Vol. 99 (2022), International Law Studies, pp. 491-516 ISSN   2375-2831 ^[37]
• 'The interaction of ice and law in Arctic marine accessibility' (with Amanda H. Lynch and Xueke Li), Vol. 119, No. 26 (2022), PNAS e2202720119 ISSN   1091-6490 ^[38]
• 'Law as Strategy: Thinking Below the State in Afghanistan', Vol. 95 (2019), International Law Studies, pp. 362-399 ISSN   2375-2831 ^[39]
• 'The Arctic: Law, Science, and Policy' (with Paul A. Mayewski), Vol. 22, No. 2 (2017) Ocean and Coastal Law Journal, pp. 97-110 ISSN   1073-8843 ^[40]
• 'The Arctic in the Public Order of the World Community', Vol. 22, No. 1 (2017), Ocean and Coastal Law Journal, pp. 5-21 ISSN   1073-8843 ^[41]
• 'China and the Public Order of the Oceans', Vol. 17, No. 2 (2012), Ocean and Coastal Law Journal, pp. 197-200 ISSN   1073-8843 ^[42]
• 'Introduction: the Deepwater Horizon Incident', Vol. 16, No. 2 (2011), Ocean and Coastal Law Journal, pp. 245-251 ISSN   1073-8843 ^[43]
• 'Introduction: Twenty-Five Years of the Gulf of Maine Judgment', Vol. 15. No. 2 (2010), Ocean and Coastal Law Journal, pp. 177-184 ISSN   1073-8843 ^[44]
• 'Fixing a Fractured State: A Jurisprudence for a Free Society', Vol. 18, Issue 1 (2010), Asia Pacific Law Review, pp. 95-112 ISSN   1019-2557 ^[45]
• 'When International Law Was Made in Maine: the Gulf of Maine Judgment at 25 Years', Vol. 25, Winter (2010), Maine Bar Journal, pp. 16-24 ISSN   0885-9973 ^[46]
• 'The Public Order of Ports', Vol. 14, No. 2 (2009), Ocean and Coastal Law Journal, pp. 155-166 ISSN   1073-8843 ^[47]
• 'The Legal Architecture of Nation-Building: An Introduction', Vol. 60, No 2 (2008), Maine Law Review, pp. 281-307 ISSN   0025-0651 ^[48]
• 'The Decision Seminar as an Instrument of Power and Enlightenment' (with Andrew R. Willard), Vol. 14, No. 4 (1993), Journal of Political Psychology, pp. 575-606 ISSN   1467-9221 ^[49]
• 'Federal Extraterritoriality and Fifth Amendment Due Process' with (Lea Brilmayer), Vol. 105 (1992), Harvard Law Review, pp. 1217-1263 ISSN   0017-811X ^[50]

Chapters in books

• 'Geopolitics and International Law in the Arctic', (with Bjarni Már Magnússon) in Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv, Marc Lanteigne and Horatio Sam-Aggrey (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Arctic Security (Routledge, 2019) ISBN   9781032400785
• 'The Durand Line: Unfinished business', in Edward Girardet, Jonathan Walter and William Dowell (eds.), The Essential Guide to Afghanistan 4th ed. (Crosslines Publications, 2014) ISBN   9782970092308
• 'Struggle for Dignity: Why human rights count', in Edward Girardet, Jonathan Walter and William Dowell (eds.), The Essential Guide to Afghanistan 4th ed. (Crosslines Publications, 2014) ISBN   9782970092308
• 'Piracy and the Public Order of the Oceans', in Charles H. Norchi and Gwenaele Proutière-Maulion (eds.), Piracy in Comparative Perspective: Problems, Strategies, Law (Editions Pedone/Hart, 2012) ISBN   9781849464420
• 'Culture and Law on the Durand Line: Continuity and Change', in William Ascher and Jay Heffron (eds.), Cultural Change and Persistence: New Perspectives on Development (Springer, 2010) ISBN   9780230109148
• 'Malta, Maine and Beyond: Trends in the Theory and Practice of Maritime Boundary Delimitation', in Norman A. Martínez Gutiérrez (ed.), Serving the Rule of International Maritime Law: Essays in Honour of Professor David Joseph Attard (Routledge, 2010) ISBN   9780415563987
• 'Toward the Rule of Law in Afghanistan: The Constitutive Process', in John D. Montgomery and Dennis A. Rondinelli (eds.), Beyond Reconstruction in Afghanistan: Lessons from Development Experience (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) ISBN   9781403965110 (won the 2004 Myres S. McDougal Prize in international law) ^[14]
• 'Human Rights: A Global Common Interest', in Jean E. Krasno (ed.), The United Nations: Confronting the Challenges of a Global Society (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004) ISBN   9781588262554
• 'Challenging Sovereignty: India, TRIPS, and the WTO' (with Ulrich Camen), in John D. Montgomery and Nathan Glazer (eds.), Sovereignty Under Challenge: How Governments Respond (Routledge, 2002) ISBN   9781138514898
• 'Indigenous Knowledge as Intellectual Property', in John D. Montgomery and Alex Inkeles (eds.), Social Capital as a Policy Resource (Springer, 2001) ISBN   9780792372738
• 'The Circum-Mediterranean: From Clashing Civilizations to Transnational Arbitration', in John B. Hattendorf (ed.), Naval Strategy and Policy in the Mediterranean: Past, Present and Future (?Routledge, 2000) ISBN   9780714649917
• 'A Pivotal States Human Rights Strategy', in Robert S. Chase, Emily B. Hill and Paul Kennedy (eds.), The Pivotal States: A New Framework for U.S. Policy in the Developing World (W.W. Norton, 1999) ISBN   9780393046755
• 'The Indian National Human Rights Commission as a Value Creating Institution', in John D. Montgomery (ed.), Human Rights: Positive Policies in Asia and the Pacific Rim (Hollis Press, 1998) ISBN   9781884186097

Organizations

Norchi is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the American Polar Society (APS). He is a Fellow, and member of the United Nations Committee, of The Explorers Club and has carried The Explorers Club flag on expeditions in 1992, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2019.

He is a member of the Director’s Circle ^[51] of the Portland Museum of Art, a member of the Propeller Club, Port of Portland Maine, ^[52] of the Maine State Bar Association, of the Board of Directors of the Harvard Club in Maine ^[53] and of the Harvard Club of New York City.

Personal life

Norchi is married to Professor Amanda Lynch.

References

1. "Center for Oceans and Coastal Law". University of Maine School of Law. 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
2. "Charles Norchi". University of Maine School of Law. 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
3. "Institute at Brown for Environment and Society". Institute at Brown for Environment and Society. Brown University. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
4. "Melting Arctic ice could transform international shipping routes, study finds". Brown University. June 22, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
5. "Sustainability and Resiliency - Education". Brown University. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
6. "Undergraduate". Department of Government. Harvard University. 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
7. "Case Western Reserve University International Law Alumni". Cox International Law Center. Case Western Reserve University School of Law. 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
8. "Law School Faculty Member Profile: Charles H. Norchi". Martindale-Hubbell. 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
9. "Fletcher Arctic Conference - Meet Our Panelists". Fletcher Arctic Initiative. April 8, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
10. "Maine Law and the Arctic". University of Maine School of Law. December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
11. "Certificate in Environmental and Oceans Law". University of Maine School of Law. 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
12. "Maritime Maine and our Law School". University of Maine School of Law. July 16, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
13. "Complex Problem-Solving Across Disciplines". University of Maine School of Law. July 9, 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
14. "Charles Norchi". Human Rights Program. Harvard Law School. 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
15. "Center for Public Leadership". Center for Public Leadership. Harvard Kennedy School. 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
16. "Charles Norchi". Fulbright Scholar Program. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
17. "Professor Norchi named Fulbright Arctic Scholar". University of Maine School of Law. February 22, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
18. "Maine Law to benefit from National Science Foundation Grant". University of Maine School of Law. September 22, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
19. "UMaine awarded nearly $3M to train graduate students to be future Arctic scientists". University of Maine News. University of Maine. September 2, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
20. "The Society of Policy Scientists". The Society of Policy Scientists. 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
21. "Advisory Board". International Association of Maritime and Port Executives. 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
22. "Professor Charles H. Norchi elected chair of the AALS Section on Admiralty and Maritime Law". University of Maine School of Law. March 15, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
23. "Norchi, Charles". World Academy of Art and Science. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
24. "Professor Charles Norchi elected to the World Academy of Art and Science". University of Maine School of Law. October 4, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
25. "The Global Divide, From Davos ... to the Campaign in New Hampshire". Yale Bulletin & Calendar. The Boston Globe. February 1, 2000. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
26. "Victory Isn't the Only Thing". Yale Bulletin & Calendar. The Plain Dealer. November 7, 2001. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
27. "Afghanistan Ascending". Los Angeles Times. November 4, 2002. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
28. "A new start in Afghanistan". The New York Times. October 13, 2004. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
29. Norchi, Charles; Lynch, Amanda (January 11, 2025). "Greenland must be regarded as a partner, not a prize". Portland Press Herald . Portland, Maine: Maine Trust for Local News . Retrieved August 21, 2025.
30. Norchi, Charles; Lynch, Amanda (March 12, 2025). "Greenland and the Great Game". Global Geneva. Crosslines Essential Media. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
31. Norchi, Charles H.; Lynch, Amanda H. (February 2025). "As Greenland Decides in the upcoming elections". Journal of the North Atlantic & Arctic. JONAA. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
32. "Innovations for Post-Conflict Transitions: The United Nations Development Program in the Democratic Republic of Congo" (PDF). Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. February 2010. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
33. "The Charles H. Norchi Prize". Royal Asiatic Society. November 1, 2024. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
34. Lynch, Amanda H.; Norchi, Charles H. (July 2, 2024). "Sea Ice and the Law of the Sea: The Myth of Article 234". University of Maine School of Law. 29 (2). Ocean and Coastal Law Journal: 171. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
35. Norchi, Charles H. (July 2, 2024). "The Public Order of the Arctic: Problems and Prospects". University of Maine School of Law. 29 (2). Ocean and Coastal Law Journal: 171. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
36. Goldstein, Michael A.; Lynch, Amanda H.; Li, Xueke; Norchi, Charles H. (September 11, 2022). "Sanctions or sea ice: Costs of closing the Northern Sea Route" . ScienceDirect. 50. Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.frl.2022.103257 . Retrieved August 21, 2025.
37. Norchi, Charles; Lynch, Amanda (August 11, 2022). "Arctic Navigation and Climate Change: Projections from Science for the Law of the Sea". U.S. Naval War College. 99 (1). International Law Studies. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
38. Lynch, Amanda H.; Norchi, Charles H.; Li, Xueke (June 21, 2022). "The interaction of ice and law in Arctic marine accessibility". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119 (26). PNAS: e2202720119. Bibcode:2022PNAS..11902720L. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2202720119 . PMC   9245659 . PMID   35727968.
39. Norchi, Charles (November 4, 2019). "Law as Strategy: Thinking Below the State in Afghanistan". U.S. Naval War College. 95 (1). International Law Studies. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
40. Norchi, Charles; Mayewski, Paul (May 10, 2017). "The Arctic: Science, Law, and Policy". University of Maine School of Law. 22 (2). Ocean and Coastal Law Journal: 97. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
41. Norchi, Charles (February 2, 2017). "The Arctic in the Public Order of the World Community". University of Maine School of Law. 22 (1). Ocean and Coastal Law Journal: 5. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
42. Norchi, Charles (May 18, 2016). "China and the Public Order of the Oceans". University of Maine School of Law. 17 (2). Ocean and Coastal Law Journal. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
43. Norchi, Charles (June 9, 2016). "Introduction: the Deepwater Horizon Incident". University of Maine School of Law. 16 (2). Ocean and Coastal Law Journal: 245–251. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
44. Norchi, Charles (May 19, 2016). "Introduction: Twenty-Five Years of the Gulf of Maine Judgment". University of Maine School of Law. 15 (2). Ocean and Coastal Law Journal. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
45. Norchi, Charles H. (November 4, 2016). "Fixing a Fractured State: A Jurisprudence for a Free Society" . Asia Pacific Law Review. 18. Informa UK: 95–112. doi:10.1080/10192557.2010.11788227 . Retrieved December 29, 2024.
46. Norchi, Charles (June 9, 2016). "When International Law Was Made in Maine: the Gulf of Maine Judgment at 25 Years". University of Maine School of Law. 25 (1). Maine Bar Journal: 16–24. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
47. Norchi, Charles (May 19, 2016). "The Public Order of Ports". University of Maine School of Law. 14 (2). Ocean and Coastal Law Journal. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
48. Norchi, Charles (June 9, 2016). "The Legal Architecture of Nation-Building: An Introduction". University of Maine School of Law. 60 (2). Maine Law Review: 281–307. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
49. Willard, Andrew R.; Norchi, Charles H. (November 4, 2016). "The Decision Seminar as an Instrument of Power and Enlightenment" . Political Psychology. 14 (4). International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP): 575–606. doi:10.2307/3791376. JSTOR   3791376 . Retrieved December 29, 2024.
50. Brilmayer, Lea; Norchi, Charles (June 9, 2016). "'Federal Extraterritoriality and Fifth Amendment Due Process". Yale Law School. Harvard Law Review. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
51. "Director's Circle". Portland Museum of Art. May 6, 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
52. "About the Club". Propeller Club, Port of Portland Maine. 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
53. "Board of Directors". Harvard Club in Maine. Retrieved December 29, 2024.