Profile: Andrew W Shoyer

Trade and Customs

Biography: Trade & Customs

Andrew W Shoyer chairs Sidley's international trade and dispute resolution practice. He focuses on the implementation and enforcement of international trade and investment agreements. Drawing on his experience at the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) and with the WTO, Mr Shoyer advises companies, trade associations and governments on the use of WTO, NAFTA and other treaty-based trade and investment rules in order to open markets and resolve disputes. He works extensively with manufacturers and service providers on WTO compliance in China and on protection of intellectual property in bilateral and regional free trade negotiations. He has also assisted a global telecommunications services supplier in WTO dispute settlement proceedings to combat unfair conditions of competition in Mexico.

Mr Shoyer spent seven years at USTR, serving most recently as legal adviser in the US Mission to the WTO in Geneva. He was the US principal negotiator of the rules implementing the WTO dispute settlement understanding, and has briefed and argued numerous WTO cases before dispute settlement panels and the WTO appellate body. Before relocating to Geneva, Mr Shoyer was assistant general counsel at USTR in Washington, DC, where he served as principal legal counsel in the negotiation of the market access rules of the NAFTA as well as the framework agreements with various Latin American countries. He also worked on numerous trade policy issues with Congress and the economic agencies of the Executive Branch.

Mr Shoyer is an adjunct faculty member in international trade policy at the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University. He has authored many articles on various aspects of international trade and customs law.