Washington, DC - Unites States Trade Representative Ron Kirk today nominated Thomas Graham and John Greenwald to serve as members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body. Graham and Greenwald are acknowledged leaders in the field of international trade law. Each has distinguished legal and professional careers in public service, private practice and academia. The breadth of their backgrounds demonstrates their expertise in law, international trade, and subject matters that often come before the WTO Appellate Body. Accordingly, each possesses outstanding qualifications to serve on the Appellate Body, including the requisite experience, judgment and stature.
All nominations by Members of the WTO for open seats on the Appellate Body are due today, August 31, 2011. Next, the Chair of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), Ambassador Elin Johansen of Norway, will oversee the following steps:
• Names of nominees will be circulated to WTO Members;
• Nominees will be interviewed in September and/or October by the selection committee established by WTO Members;
• Candidates will meet with any WTO Member, upon request;
• The selection committee will make a recommendation to WTO Members no later than November 10, 2011;
• WTO Members will make the decision to appoint two new Appellate Body members; and
• The four-year terms of the two new members will begin on December 11, 2011.
BACKGROUND
Thomas Graham began his career teaching law at the Catholic University in Caracas, Venezuela, on a teaching fellowship from Harvard Law School. He then spent three years in Geneva as a Legal Officer of the United Nations. He also served as Deputy General Counsel in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative during a period that laid the foundation for the WTO and its system of dispute-settlement. Mr. Graham has taught at the Georgetown Law Center as an adjunct professor and has written extensively on international trade as a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution, and as a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Graham served in private practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and King & Spalding. Currently, Mr. Graham is senior counsel at that firm, where he continues to represent respondents in non-U.S. trade remedy cases, to negotiate the settlement of disputes, and to assist in WTO dispute-settlement proceedings.
John Greenwald began his career in international trade law in the general counsel’s office of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative where he was responsible for representing the U.S. in negotiation of Tokyo Round agreements on antidumping, subsidies/countervailing measures, and dispute settlement. Following the negotiations, he represented the Executive Branch in drafting the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, which implemented the Tokyo Round Agreements. He also served as the first head of the Import Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Since leaving government, Mr. Greenwald has served in private practice, representing international trade matters in various foreign jurisdictions, before the WTO, and before the trade agencies of the U.S. government and courts. Mr. Greenwald has also taught international trade law courses as an adjunct professor at Catholic University, American University and, most recently, Georgetown University, and has written extensively on trade law and policy issues.
