Michael Stephen

Michael Stephen (HF 1970-72) regarded his Fellowship as an opportunity to develop his understanding of the law into the international field.  It also developed his understanding of diplomatic relations, and gave him a firm sense of a common cultural and political identity with the United States. He chose Stanford for the first year because the UN was founded in San Francisco, and the travaux préparatoires were kept at Stanford. There he was taught by Carl B. Spaeth who came to the Law School as Dean in 1946, having been a Rhodes Scholar and a legal adviser to the US Department of State.  For his second year he chose Harvard, and was supervised by Louis B. Sohn, one of the draftsmen of the Charter of the United Nations. He left Harvard early, to join the UK Mission to the UN in New York as one of its representatives on the Sixth (Legal) Committee. This was an interesting time, not least as the UK Mission were instructed to vote against the US on admitting the People’s Republic of China. The US Representative at the time was George Bush Sr.  Michael Stephen formed a critical view of the UN, and wrote an article in the American Journal of International Law on the failure of the UN to observe the Rules of Natural Justice. He found the experience gained during his Fellowship of great value in his career as a lawyer, and when he later became a Member of the UK Parliament.