He planned to go into private practice, but he never got around to it. He clerked for a judge in Boston for a year. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist for another year. Then the teaching offers came. He took a position at Columbia to teach Japanese law. To learn the subject better, he spent 2 1/2 years in Japan — where he had served his church mission — studying Japanese law.

Many Americans study in Japan, but not many of them actually sit in regular Japanese classes with Japanese students and write their papers in the Japanese language and study Japanese-language books.

"I wanted to learn it the way they learn it," he explained.

At Columbia, he created a center for Japanese legal studies, comparing Japanese and U.S. law, analyzing the efficiency and styles of the systems.

He taught at Columbia until 1989, when he took a leave of absence to accept a position in the State Department.

One thing led to another. Young served as ambassador for trade and environmental affairs from 1992-93, deputy undersecretary for economic and agricultural affairs from 1991-93 and deputy legal adviser to the U.S. State Department 1989-91. In 1996, he served as counsel to the Select Subcommittee on Transfers of Iranian Arms to Bosnian Muslims of the U.S. House of Representatives.

As deputy legal adviser in the first Bush administration, he was assigned to supervise the legal work of Europe, which put him on the front row of history.

"Three weeks later the Berlin Wall came down," he said. "Then they needed a lawyer for the U.S. delegation for German unification."

He spent half of each month in Europe working on unification and drafted much of the treaty.

He has signed photos from then-Secretary of State James Baker thanking him for his role in German unification, as well as photos signed by the first President Bush and Rehnquist.

Young returned to Columbia when the Bush administration ended. Over the years he continued to be involved in political causes. He recently ended his service as a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. (He has twice chaired the commission.)

Swept off his feet

When Utah found him he was dean of George Washington's law school, a post he took in 1998. He was such a popular dean — some say he was next in line to be GW's president — that when he left for Utah, one professor told the Salt Lake Tribune, "You guys suck. And you can quote me on that."