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]

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]

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 is President of The Society of Policy Scientists, 2020-present.^[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]

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]

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.^[29] 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.^[30]

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

• 'Arctic Navigation and Climate Change: Projections from Science for the Law of the Sea' (with Amanda H. Lynch), Vol. 99 (2002), International Law Studies, pp. 491-516 ISSN 2375-2831^[31]
• '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^[32]
• 'Law as Strategy: Thinking Below the State in Afghanistan', Vol. 95 (2019), International Law Studies, pp. 362-399 ISSN 2375-2831^[33]
• '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^[34]
• '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^[35]
• 'China and the Public Order of the Oceans', Vol. 17, No. 2 (2012), Ocean and Coastal Law Journal, pp. 197-200 ISSN 1073-8843^[36]
• 'Introduction: the Deepwater Horizon Incident', Vol. 16, No. 2 (2011), Ocean and Coastal Law Journal, pp. 245-251 ISSN 1073-8843^[37]
• '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^[38]
• '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^[39]
• '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^[40]
• 'The Public Order of Ports', Vol. 14, No. 2 (2009), Ocean and Coastal Law Journal, pp. 155-166 {{ISSN|1073-8843}^[41]
• 'The Legal Architecture of Nation-Building: An Introduction', Vol. 60, No 2 (2008), Maine Law Review, pp. 281-307 ISSN 0025-0651^[42]
• '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^[43]
• 'Federal Extraterritoriality and Fifth Amendment Due Process' with (Lea Brilmayer), Vol. 105 (1992), Harvard Law Review, pp. 1217-1263 ISSN 0017-811X^[44]

• '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

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^[45] of the Portland Museum of Art, a member of the Propeller Club, Port of Portland Maine,^[46] of the Maine State Bar Association, of the Board of Directors of the Harvard Club in Maine^[47] and of the Harvard Club of New York City.

Norchi is married to Professor Amanda Lynch.