DATE: March 12, 2007                                  CONTACT: Laura Kiernan
                                                                                             Judicial Branch
                                                                                             Communications Director

 Judge Arthur Brennan Announces Retirement June 1

Accepts U.S. State Department post in Iraq

CONCORD—Associate Superior Court Judge Arthur D. Brennan today notified Governor John Lynch and the Executive Council that he will retire from the trial court bench, effective June 1. Brennan, who has been on the Superior Court for 15 years, has accepted a temporary position with the U.S. State Department as Deputy Director of the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office (IRMO) as well as Director of  the Office of Accountability and Transparency. He will be stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

            “I have done my best to live up to the responsibilities I swore that I would carry out under the Constitutions and Laws of the State of New Hampshire, and the United States of America,” Brennan wrote in a letter he delivered this morning to the Governor and executive council members.

             In the state department position, Brennan will assist with policymaking, including legislation and rulemaking, and will work with the prime minister’s office and the Iraq judiciary on issues involving accountability and open government. His security clearance for the post is being finalized by the State Department, Brennan said. 

            “It has been an honor for me to serve the citizens of New Hampshire as a judge,” Brennan said following announcement of his plans. “I feel very lucky to have this new opportunity to serve my country, and to help the people of Iraq.”

            Before he was appointed to the Superior Court in 1992, Brennan served for three years as legal counsel to then Gov. Judd Gregg. His duties included working with the state legislature on the Governor’s program proposals as well as drafting and tracking legislation. Prior to joining state government, Brennan was a lawyer in private practice in Weare.

            In 1995, while he was on the state trial court, Brennan worked for five weeks with the International Human Rights Law Group on the Cambodian Court Reform Project. He and his wife Nancy traveled to the newly established courts in the Cambodian provinces and assisted Cambodian judges, judicial officials and staff in interpretation of the new Cambodian Constitution and new laws concerning domestic violence and contracts.

            Brennan, who graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1969, served with the United States Army and the 82d Airborne as a platoon leader and paratrooper/jumpmaster from 1969 to 1972. After returning home from military service, Brennan worked with his father as a stone mason and logger, enrolled in Franklin Pierce Law Center and received his degree in 1983. Brennan served for 20 years in the U.S. Army Reserve, leaving in 1991 with the rank of Major.

            The Brennans, who live in Weare, have two adult children, Molly Brennan of Chicago, Illinois, and Kate Brennan of Jackson, Wyoming. Nancy Brennan taught theatre and mathematics at Weare High School and John Stark Regional High School before her retirement.

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