Biography: Trade & Customs

Neil R Ellis is a partner in Sidley's Washington, DC, office. He focuses his practice in the areas of international trade regulation and antitrust. In the international trade area, Mr Ellis has represented foreign and domestic companies, manufacturers, exporters, and importers before the US Department of Commerce, the International Trade Commission and the federal courts in import regulatory proceedings. He has represented clients in complex and controversial anti-dumping, countervailing duty and safeguards cases over the past 20 years involving products such as anti-friction bearings (Japan), steel (Netherlands, Russia, India and England), uranium (former Soviet Union), lumber (Canada), fertiliser products (Russia) and motion pictures (US and Canada). In highly political, "non-market economy" cases, he has advised in the negotiation of suspension agreements to settle anti-dumping disputes. Mr Ellis also advises companies and governments on the use of the WTO's dispute settlement system to resolve trade disputes, particularly in the areas of anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

In the antitrust area, Mr Ellis counsels a range of clients including multinational corporations and trade associations, regarding compliance with federal antitrust rules and has advised both US and foreign companies in the federal merger review process. He also represented companies involved in civil investigations by the US Department of Justice and in federal and state private antitrust litigation.

Before entering private practice, Mr Ellis worked in the appellate section of the antitrust division of the Department of Justice, where he briefed and argued antitrust and administrative law cases in the US courts of appeals. Mr Ellis was also a law professor at Hofstra University, where he taught courses in the areas of international trade and maritime law. He speaks regularly at conferences on international trade topics and has published articles on trade and antitrust topics.

Mr Ellis received his JD from Yale Law School (editor, Yale Law Journal) in 1980 and his AB, cum laude, from Cornell University in 1976. He is admitted in the District of Columbia.