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Participants
Irving A. Williamson - Keynote Speaker Commissioner, United States International Trade Commission Irving A. Williamson was sworn in as a Commissioner at the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) on February 7, 2007 for a term ending June 16, 2014. The ITC is an independent, nonpartisan, fact-finding federal agency that provides trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches of government, determines the impact of imports on U.S. industries and directs actions against certain unfair trade practices, such as the importation of products that infringe US patents or trademarks. Mr. Williamson has worked on trade policy issues for over 40 years as an ITC Commissioner, an attorney at USTR, a Foreign Service Officer, an advisor to a bi-state development agency and consultant. Prior to his ITC appointment, Mr. Williamson was for seven years President of Williamson International Trade Strategies, Inc., a New York City-based consulting firm that advised clients on legal, policy, and regulatory issues affecting international trade and business. As a consultant, he headed a USAID project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia which assisted Ethiopia with its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). He has worked on USAID-funded WTO compliance and participation projects in Egypt, Algeria, Cape Verde, Jordan, Kosovo and Guyana and has conducted WTO training programs in Egypt, Barbados, Lebanon, Mali, Macedonia, Uganda, Vietnam and China. He developed a services trade work program and workshop for the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and served as a trade advisor to the US-Egypt Business Counsel. He has also conducted seminars throughout West Africa on the “Africa Growth and Opportunity Act” (AGOA) and on globalization. From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Williamson was Deputy General Counsel at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). He worked on the WTO and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) implementing legislation. As Chairman of the interagency Section 301 Committee, he led the Committee through 24 investigations of foreign trade barriers. He served as acting general counsel for seven months and helped manage a 14-attorney office that was engaged in over 30 WTO dispute settlement proceedings and was named best government international law office in May of 1997. He played a role in developing President Clinton’s initiative on trade with Africa and USTR’s negotiations with Congress on the AGOA legislation. As Vice President for Trade, Investment and Economic Development Programs at the Africa-America Institute (AAI) in New York City after USTR, Mr. Williamson worked to facilitate U.S.-African trade and investment ties. From 1985 to 1993 he was Manager, Trade Policy for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey where he advised its departments, export trading company clients and the World Trade Centers Association on international trade issues. Mr. Williamson was for 18 years a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. His Washington assignments included: Associate General Counsel at USTR, attorney at the Treasury Department, Economic Officer on the Brazil Desk, Deputy Chief of the Aviation Policy Division. Overseas he served in the U.S. Mission in Geneva, Switzerland, where on worked on GATT, UNCTAD, WIPO and Economic Commission for Europe matters, and in the U.S. embassies in Antananarivo, Madagascar, and Port Louis, Mauritius. Mr. Williamson has a BA in history from Brown University, an MA in international relations with an emphasis on African studies and international economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a JD from George Washington University Law School. He was born and raised in St. Louis, Mo. He has written articles on the GATT Uruguay Round, the U.S. - Canada Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, removing foreign trade barriers, AGOA and U.S.–African trade and investment relations.

Raj K. Bhala Rice Distinguished Professor The University of Kansas School of Law Raj Bhala joined the University of Kansas law faculty in 2003 as the Raymond F. Rice Distinguished Professor of Law. He has worked in no less than 20 countries, and played in another two dozen. Raj joined KU from George Washington, where he held the Patricia Roberts Harris Research Professorship. Raj is a summa cum laude graduate of Duke, and was an Angier B. Duke Scholar. The British Government awarded him a Marshall Scholarship, and he earned master's degrees from both the London School of Economics and Oxford. He obtained his law degree with honors from Harvard, and thereafter worked at the Federal Reserve in New York, where he was twice granted the President's Award for Excellence. Raj's scholarly reputation in international trade is world wide, based in part on a prolific publication record, including a leading treatise, Modern GATT Law, and casebook International Trade Law. Raj's work embodies three signature themes: (1) protectionist devices are embedded in the details of trade law, (2) generosity and social justice ought to play a prominent role in trade law, and (3) precedent operates as a de facto source of multilateral trade law. He is the editor of two book series, Studies in Globalization and Society (Carolina Academic Press) and International Law and Development (Martinus Nijoff Publishers). Raj is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Royal Society of Asian Affairs, American Law Institute, and Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, and has consulted to governments and international organizations. He has lectured around the world, including at the University of Auckland (New Zealand), Bahcesehir University (Istanbul), College of Shari'a and Law (Muscat, Oman), King Fahd University of Petroleum and Mining (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia), University of Dhaka (Bangladesh), LaTrobe University (Melbourne), University of London, University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur), National University of Singapore, Pakistan College of Law (Lahore). Raj has been a Visiting Fellow at the Bank of Japan (Tokyo) and the University of Hong Kong.

Karen E. Bravo Assistant Professor of Law John S. Grimes Fellow Dean’s Fellow Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis Karen E. Bravo, BA, JD, LLM, teaches business organizations and public and private international law courses, including Illicit International Markets (concerning the traffic in people, money and drugs) at the Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis. After earning her JD, she practiced corporate law with international law firms in New York and Massachusetts. Following her law firm tenure, she joined the American Bar Association Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI) in the Republic of Armenia, where she worked with domestic judiciary and advocates, and local and international NGOs on legal reform and education programs and strategies. After her stint in Armenia, Professor Bravo received her LLM in International Trade Regulation from New York University School of Law in 2004. Her published work includes: CARICOM, the Myth of Sovereignty and Aspirational Economic Integration Smoke, Mirrors and the Joker in the Pack? On Transitioning to Democracy and the Rule of Law in Post-Soviet Armenia. Exploring the Analogy between Modern Trafficking in Humans and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and International Economic Law in U.S. Law Schools: Evaluating Its Pedagogy and Identifying Future Challenges are forthcoming. Professor Bravo’s research interests include regional integration, democratization and the rule of law and human trafficking. Professor Bravo is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Columbia University School of Law and New York University School of Law.

Jorge Eduardo Pérez Caña Professor of Methods of International Studies Universidad Central de Venezuela Caracas Jorge Pérez teaches Methods of International Studies at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas. After earning his law degree at the Universidad del Norte in Colombia he completed graduate courses in advanced business law studies at the Universidad Externado de Colombia, environmental management at the University of the Andes in Bogota, and regulation of the energy industry in partnership with Canadian Energy Resources Institute. Professor Pérez has practiced environmental and energy regulation law with the Ministry of Energy and Mines in Colombia. After working as a research assistant with the Venezuelan Law and Economics Association on topics of ethical and policy studies, he was named director of the Center for Regulatory Information (www.ceire.info).

Chi C. Carmody Associate Professor & Canadian Director Canada-United States Law Institute Faculty of Law University of Western Ontario Chi Carmody, LL.B. (Ottawa), LL.M. (Michigan), S.J.D. (Georgetown), has taught at the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law since 1999, where he teaches courses in public international law, international trade law and international business transactions. He also serves as Canadian Director of the Canada-United States Law Institute. He has been a visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center and an Emile Noël Fellow at the Jean Monnet Center for Regional and International Economic Law & Justice, NYU Law School.

Sanford E. Gaines Research Professor and Director The Utton Transboundary Resources Center University of New Mexico School of Law Sandy Gaines came to the UNM law faculty in 2007 to be the second director of The Utton Transboundary Resources Center. He brings to the Center a wide range of national and international experience as an environmental lawyer and law professor. Over the years, Gaines has served on and chaired committees of the ABA section on environment, energy, and resources, the environmental section of the Association of American Law Schools. He is a member of the environmental law commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and IUCN’s Academy of Environmental Law. In 1997, he was appointed by EPA Administrator Carol Browner to serve on, and later chair, the U.S. National Advisory Committee for the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

David A. Gantz Samuel M. Fegtly Professor of Law Director, International Trade Law and Business Law Program Associate Director, National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law David A. Gantz, A.B., J.D., J.S.M., teaches international trade law and related courses at the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law, and directs the LL.M. program in international trade and business law. After earning his JD and JSM at Stanford Law School, Mr. Gantz worked as a law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, as an Attorney-Advisor and Assistant Legal Adviser for the Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State, and as a partner at various Washington, D.C. law firms. He has served on NAFTA dispute settlement and arbitration tribunals and prepared numerous articles and presentations on international trade law.

Armand de Mestral Professor of Law Jean Monnet Chair in the Law of International Economic Integration Co-Director of the Institute of European Studies McGill-Université de Montréal Armand de Mestral teaches international law, international trade law, and the law of the European Community. His current research interest is the law of international economic integration, particularly the law applicable to regional trade agreements. He has prepared books, articles and studies in English and French on international trade law and on Canadian comparative and constitutional law and international law. He has served on WTO and NAFTA dispute settlement and arbitration tribunals. He served as president of the Canadian Red Cross Society from 1999–2001.

David L. Sloss Professor of Law Saint Louis University School of Law David Sloss earned his J.D. from Stanford Law School, an M.P.P. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Hampshire College. He joined the faculty at Saint Louis University School of Law in 1999. Sloss has published numerous law review articles related to the application of international law in U.S. courts. He is the co-editor of a forthcoming book that will present a comparative perspective on the role of domestic courts in treaty enforcement in about 15 countries. He is currently working on a book analyzing the history of the judicial enforcement of treaties in U.S. courts. The book will trace the decline of “judicial activism” and the rise of “judicial passivity” in treaty cases.

Cherie O. Taylor Professor of Law South Texas College of Law Cherie O. Taylor, A.B. (Harvard), J.D. (University of Georgia), LL.M. (Georgetown), former Chair of the International Economic Law Group of the American Society of International Law. When she graduated law school she clerked on the 11th Circuit Ct. of Appeals and then practiced in the International Trade group at Steptor & Johnson in Washington, D.C. prior to joining the faculty of South Texas. She teaches courses on private international law at South Texas College of Law where her areas of expertise include international business transactions, transactional skills, international trade law, international civil litigation, and civil procedure. Her published articles in the field of international trade law include Impossible Cases: Lessons from the First Decade of WTO Dispute Settlement, Linkage and Rulemaking: Observations on Trade and Investment and Trade and Labor, The Limits of Economic Power: Section 301 and the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement System, and Fast Track, Trade Policy and Free Trade Agreements: Why the NAFTA Turned Into a Battle, among others.

Constance Z. Wagner Associate Professor of Law Saint Louis University School of Law Constance Z. Wagner, B.A. (Northwestern), J.D. (Columbia), LL.M. (Konstanz), teaches international economic law, corporate law, and financial regulation at Saint Louis University School of Law. She is on the faculty of the Center for International and Comparative Law and directs the LL.M. program in American Law for Foreign Lawyers. She is affiliated faculty with the Women's Studies program at Saint Louis University. Her recent scholarship has focused on the impact of trade law and policies on women and the rise of corporate social responsibility. Professor Wagner practiced in the areas of corporate law and financial regulation in New York City before entering the teaching profession. She researched international trade law in an institute on globalization while she was a graduate student at the Universitaet Konstanz. She has been active in the American Branch of the International Law Association, International Trade Law Committee, the American Society of International Law, International Economic Law Interest Group, and the Missouri Bar, International Law Committee.

Douglas R. Williams Professor of Law Saint Louis University School of Law Professor Douglas R. Williams is a 1987 graduate of Duke University School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif, served as Articles Editor for the Duke Law Journal, and was graduated with high honors. He then served as a law clerk for the Honorable Douglas H. Ginsburg of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. From 1988 to 1991 he was associated with the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. In 1991 he joined the law faculty at Saint Louis University School of Law and teaches several environmental law courses, administrative law, and constitutional law. He is co- editor of a book on federal wetlands regulation for the ABA’s Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources and has written articles on a variety of environmental and constitutional law subjects.

Chris Wold Associate Professor of Law and Director International Environmental Law Project Lewis & Clark Law School of Law Chris Wold is an Associate Professor of Law at Lewis & Clark Law School, where he teaches International Environmental Law, Trade and the Environment, Climate Change and the Law, and Ocean and Coastal Law. In addition to teaching, Prof. Wold directs the International Environmental Law Project, a clinic in which law students engage in the development, implementation, and enforcement of international environmental law. Prof. Wold has also prepared legal opinions for convention secretariats, such as the CITES and SPAW Protocol secretariats, on reservations law and the relationship between similar treaties. He has prepared a legal opinion for the CITES Secretariat concerning diplomatic immunity after a CITES Party confiscated ivory from an ambassador. He has served as a legal advisor to the United Kingdom at the 2001 International Whaling Commission annual meeting. He is currently a member of the National Advisory Committee, which advises the Environmental Protection Agency on issues concerning implementation of the NAFTA environmental side agreement. He has worked with governments, such as Bulgaria and Ukraine, on implementation of their international environmental treaty obligations. He has also been a staff attorney with the Center for International Environmental Law (1990-1994; “of counsel” from 1994-2002) and the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (1994-2000; “of counsel” from 2000-present). He is the co-author of the textbook, "Trade and the Environment: Law and Policy."

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