I provide strategic advice and problem-solving for companies, trade associations and governments on their market access rights under trade and investment agreements - and how to effectively pursue their rights in the real world. I provide rights-based policy arguments, policy papers and legislative drafting, to propel successful advocacy in negotiations and the legislative arena.  

In my career advising on private and government clients' trade and international investment issues, I have worked with and on many industries, including software (business software and video games), digital content (motion pictures, online video, video games, online music, e-books), electronics, semiconductors, satellites, medical devices, chemicals,  pharmaceuticals, metals, cement, energy (solar, wind and oil & gas), automotive trade, textiles and apparel, agriculture and aquaculture (subsidies, market access, regulatory trade barriers), wine, sweeteners, processed food, distilled spirits, and forest products. I have worked with companies and trade associations in a range of service industries including cloud-based computer and related services, online games, digital music and online video, express delivery, banking, securities and insurance services, telecommunications, distribution, and professional services. 

Representative matters:

  • Litigated or advised on over 100 government-to-government trade disputes, including the key cases that shaped WTO law during the first five years of the WTO. Drafted WTO and NAFTA dispute settlement briefs and arguments, for governments and stakeholders; argued to panels and the WTO Appellate Body. Advise governments and stakeholders on their rights and obligations under trade and investment agreements.

  • Advise on trade, government procurement, supply chain, reshoring and Buy American issues affecting medical devices and personal protective equipment (PPE) in the coronavirus era.

  • Counsel to U.S. business coalition policy initiative on trade issues related to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the global economy; coalition work resulted in the successful U.S. government initiative to include a chapter on SOEs in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement — later followed by SOE chapters in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and other regional trade agreements.

  • Advise governments, trade associations, and companies in the business software, motion picture, video game, online music and digital publishing industries on market access issues in Asian, Latin American and European markets — and on market access for cloud-based service businesses.

  • Advised digital content industry trade associations and companies on trade aspects of online censorship and content regulation.

  • Advised a government on trade and investment law issues related to implementation of OECD Pillar 2 reforms of the international tax regime.

  • Consultant for a UK project analyzing potential value-added impact of UK membership in CPTPP.

  • Advised companies, trade associations and governments on market access issues for international service businesses and imported goods and digital content in China.

  • Advised the international recording industry on market access for digital music in China, including WTO case against China's market access restrictions on online sound recording distribution services.

  • Advise on market access barriers to U.S. wine exports worldwide.

  • Advise agricultural stakeholders and associations on trade agreement issues, including market access barriers and subsidies.

  • Advise on trade aspects of environmental and energy initiatives, including climate-related industrial policy, clean energy subsidies, border carbon adjustments, climate change mitigation measures, and environmental labeling.

  • Analysis and advice on tariffs and customs issues on technology products, and on government procurement trade.

  • Advised U.S. sweeteners trade associations and companies on market access issues under NAFTA and the WTO; litigated successful NAFTA investor-state claim on a sweeteners investment in Mexico, and successful WTO case on a discriminatory Mexican tax on soft drinks.

  • Advised on industrial and agricultural subsidies and trade remedies in the United States and abroad; successful defense against claims regarding prohibited subsidies.

  • Advised on WTO-authorized trade retaliation against trade in goods and services, and intellectual property rights.

I am a Member of the Roster of External Counsel of the Advisory Centre for WTO Law, a Geneva-based international organization that provides legal aid on WTO issues to developing countries.  

Since 1999 I have taught at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC -- since 2017, Global Trade and Trade Policy in the SAIS Master of Arts in Global Policy Program, and before then, WTO and International Trade Law in the SAIS concentration on International Law and Organizations.