Robert Novick > WilmerHale > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile

WilmerHale
2100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20036
United States

Work Department

Aviation ; China Transactions ; Coronavirus (COVID-19) Task Force ; Crisis Management and Strategic Response ; Cross-Border Investigations and Compliance ; International Trade, Investment and Market Access ; Investigations

Position

Co-Managing Partner

Career

Robert Novick is one of the firm’s co-managing partners, and also serves on the Management Committee. His practice focuses on assisting companies and associations to develop and implement market access, government relations, legislative and litigation strategies to secure and preserve export, investment or commercial opportunities throughout the world. Mr. Novick represents clients doing business globally in international investment, trade policy, negotiation, regulatory, government affairs, legislative and dispute resolution matters.

Mr. Novick joined WilmerHale after serving as Counselor and then General Counsel in the Office of the US Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President, from 1997 to 2001. As General Counsel, Mr. Novick was responsible for establishing and implementing the Administration’s litigation priorities, strategy and settlement positions in WTO and NAFTA dispute resolution, as well as under bilateral agreements, and had responsibility for the Administration’s legal positions with respect to all trade matters.

He also led negotiations on various legal and policy issues. He was a principal negotiator of the US-China WTO market-opening agreement and oversaw US participation in the multilateral negotiations on China’s accession to the WTO. He served as USTR’s representative to the 19-person Congressionally-established Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce.

Before entering public service, Mr. Novick was a partner in a Washington, DC firm, where his practice concentrated on trade policy and trade litigation matters, including matters related to the various import relief laws, customs and international arbitration.

Practice

Mr. Novick’s practice at WilmerHale focuses on assisting companies and associations to develop and implement market access, government relations, legislative and litigation strategies to secure and preserve export, investment or commercial opportunities throughout the world.

Recent issues have focused on negotiations of the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the relationship between global climate change initiatives and international trade rules and internet censorship.

Recent representations are in the aerospace, agriculture, hi-tech, consumer goods, energy, pharmaceutical and services sectors, including for clients like Amgen, The Boeing Company, Cisco Systems, ExxonMobil, Google, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), the Personal Care Products Council and PhRMA. His dispute resolution practice, particularly before the WTO, complements strategies to remove trade and regulatory impediments. Recent dispute resolution matters include representing Boeing in connection with the WTO dispute settlements cases concerning aircraft subsidies and ITI in connection with the EU’s failure to abide by its Information Technology Agreement committee.

Memberships

  • District of Columbia
  • England and Wales, Registered Foreign Lawyer

Education

JD, American University, Washington College of Law

BA, Bucknell University

Lawyer Rankings

United States > International trade > Trade remedies and trade policy

(Hall of Fame)

Robert NovickWilmerHale

An ‘exceptionally expert team with incomparable insights’, WilmerHale’s trade practice impresses with its unique ability to intersect law, policy, and politics. On the trade policy front, the group draws on both the team’s extensive government-side experience and the firm’s complementary strength in government relations to shine in advising on US policy initiatives and trade agreement negotiations. Most notably, department head David Ross recently advised the UK Department for Business and Trade on the UK’s negotiation of a free-trade agreement with Israel. The group also secures a significant volume of high-stakes trade remedies litigation, where it acts for both domestic and foreign industry clients. Recent highlights in the remedies space included representing major US phosphate fertilizer producer, The Mosaic Company, in a series of cases before the DOC, the USCITC and the CIT; Ross co-led the work together with Jeffrey Kessler, who stands out for his ‘deep strategic assessments of options’. The Washington DC-based bench also fields senior figure Robert Novick, who is a former GC for the Office of the USTR; newly promoted partner Lauren Mandell, who is a ‘top-notch trade and investment lawyer’; and counsel Stephanie Hartmann, who focuses on international economic regulation and trade policy. Counsel Patrick McLain left in July 2023.