Our Practice

WTO Disputes


Drawing on the firm's global resources, Sidley is the only firm providing WTO legal services from offices in Geneva, Washington, D.C. and Brussels. Our team of professionals assists companies, governments, and trade associations worldwide on the enforcement of the complex web of global trading rules regulating international commerce. The WTO is at the center of that web, and is also at the center of our trade team’s practice.

Sidley is distinguished in having dozens of professionals who have been directly involved “from the inside” in the development of WTO law – in the private sector, as government litigators, and as members of the WTO secretariat assisting panels and the Appellate Body in resolving disputes. We have nine lawyers recognized by clients and peers in the 2009 Who’s Who Legal as leaders in the field of WTO law, and the firm is consistently ranked as a leading provider of legal services in this area, receiving Who’s Who Legal’s “Global Trade & Customs Law Firm of the Year” award every year since the award’s inception in 2005.

WTO Dispute Settlement

Our professionals have been involved in more than 230 of the 400-plus complaints brought to the WTO. Our extensive experience means that we have shaped – and continue to shape – the development of WTO law. Our WTO litigators, with the proximity of our Geneva office to the WTO “courthouse,” have been involved in every procedural phase of WTO dispute settlement – from consultations to panel and Appellate Body proceedings, and from implementation challenges to arbitration regarding retaliatory measures. Sidley professionals have served recently as: 
 
  • Counsel to Airbus S.A.S. in two WTO disputes between the United States and the European Communities on government support for the large civil aircraft industry. European Communities – Measures Affecting Trade in Large Civil Aircraft; United States – Measures Affecting Trade in Large Civil Aircraft;
  • Counsel to the U.S. biotechnology industry in a WTO dispute with the European Communities and its member states on their ongoing failure to process applications for approval of new agricultural biotech products. European Communities – Measures Affecting the Marketing and Approval of Biotech Products;
  • Counsel to the Government of Norway in support of a comprehensive challenge to an EC anti-dumping determination regarding farmed salmon from Norway. European Communities – Anti-Dumping Measure on Farmed Salmon from Norway;
  • Counsel to AT&T in support of the United States’ challenge to Mexican market access and anti-competitive restrictions on international long distance telecommunications services. Mexico – Measures Affecting Telecommunications Services;
  • Counsel to the Government of Brazil in support of a WTO challenge against U.S. domestic support and export subsidies for upland cotton and a host of other agricultural products. United States – Subsidies for Upland Cotton;
  • Counsel to Anheuser-Busch in support of a challenge by the United States to the European Communities’ regulation on the protection of geographical indications. European Communities – Protection of Trademarks and Geographical Indications for Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs;
  • Counsel to the Government of Brazil in defense of a challenge by the European Communities to import measures regarding retreaded tires. Brazil - Measures Affecting the Import of Retreaded Tyres;
  • Counsel to the Government of Japan in seven separate WTO proceedings concerning the United States’ use of the “zeroing” methodology in antidumping proceedings.

For a more extensive, representative list of WTO cases in which Sidley lawyers have been involved, see below. For a list of WTO publications, click here.

WTO Experience


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