David Ross > WilmerHale > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile
WilmerHale Offices
2100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20036
United States
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David Ross
Work Department
Aviation ; Big Data ; Coronavirus (COVID-19) Task Force ; Crisis Management and Strategic Response ; Cross-Border Investigations and Compliance ; International Trade, Investment and Market ; Access Investigations ; Latin America ; Public Policy and Legislative Affairs
Position
Partner
Chair, International Trade, Investment and Market Access Practice Group
Career
David Ross chairs WilmerHale’s International Trade, Investment and Market Access Practice. Drawing on his experience at the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) and on Capitol Hill, Mr. Ross advises companies on the use of domestic and international trade rules to eliminate regulatory barriers and other impediments to their businesses and investments around the world, with a particular focus on the technology, services/financial services, and aviation/aerospace sectors. Mr. Ross also spends significant time on trade policy and legislative matters, including proceedings under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, US legislation, the negotiation and enforcement of international agreements, and World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international trade law. Mr. Ross joined WilmerHale after spending four years as international trade counsel to the Republican staff of the Senate Finance Committee, and eight years as associate general counsel at USTR.
During his time at USTR, Mr. Ross was responsible for legal matters involving services and financial services, subsidies, antidumping measures, and safeguards. Mr. Ross served as lead counsel for the United States in numerous dispute settlement proceedings before the WTO, including the successful US challenges to EU subsidies for large civil aircraft and Mexican antidumping duties on imports of US rice. Mr. Ross also served as the chief US lawyer in the negotiation of the free trade agreement with Chile and as the services and financial services lawyer in free trade agreement negotiations with Australia, Morocco, Bahrain and Oman.
While serving with the finance committee, Mr. Ross advised member, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Republican staff on trade and economic issues including services, intellectual property, investment, currency/exchange rates, climate, labor, trade adjustment assistance and WTO dispute settlement. Mr. Ross provided policy guidance on trade and economic matters involving trade with China, Europe and the Russian Federation, and he negotiated and drafted trade legislation on issues falling within the finance committee’s jurisdiction. Through these experiences, Mr. Ross gained deep experience in the formulation and execution of Congressional trade policy, legislative drafting, Executive Branch oversight, and the use of legislative tools to help address and resolve impediments to trade.
From 1993–1997, Mr. Ross was an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Chief Counsel for Import Administration, US Department of Commerce. Mr. Ross provided legal advice to the Import Administration (IA) on its regulatory responsibilities under the US trade remedy laws and defended IA determinations before US courts and NAFTA panels. He also was extensively involved in the negotiation and administration of the antidumping suspension agreements on uranium and honey.
Professional Activities
Mr. Ross is a member of the Georgetown University Law Center, International Trade Update CLE Advisory Board. He is also a member of the US Court of International Trade and the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Memberships
- District of Columbia
Education
LLM, International and Comparative Law, Duke University School of Law, 1993
JD, Duke University School of Law, 1993
BA, Political Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1989
Lawyer Rankings
United States > International Trade > Trade remedies and trade policy
Trade policy and trade remedy matters are key pillars of WilmerHale’s overarching international trade offering. The team is differentiated by its ability to plug into the wider firm’s thriving government relations and public policy practices and it is regularly involved in sensitive and high-profile investigations, disputes and negotiations. Department chair David Ross is a former international trade counsel to the US Senate and ‘goes the extra mile for his clients’. Ross recently paired up with Jeffrey Kessler, a former Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance at the DOT, to represent US phosphate fertilizer producer, The Mosaic Company, in a series of trade litigation cases concerning countervailing duty orders on fertilizer imports from Morocco and Russia. Firm co-managing partner Robert Novick is sought after for his combination of international investment, trade policy, negotiation and government affairs expertise; he continues to act alongside Kessler to represent Boeing in the long-running US-EU aircraft disputes at the WTO. The Washington DC-based group also includes special counsel Lauren Mandell, who was formerly at the USTR, where he was a key official in the negotiation of the USMCA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Finance > Financial services regulation
- Antitrust > Cartel
- International Trade > CFIUS
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Industry focus > Education
- Industry focus > Native American law
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market ($500m-999m)
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Government > State attorneys general
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Venture capital and emerging companies
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Corporate governance
- Government > Government contracts
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- International Trade > Trade remedies and trade policy
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- International Trade > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Finance > Fintech
- Government > Government relations
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Real estate > Real estate
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Environment > Environment: litigation