Office of the United States Trade Representative

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2020

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U.S. Names Panelists for USMCA Enforcement

Washington, DC – The United States today named 10 panelists to the roster that will decide State-to-State disputes under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The enforcement mechanism for resolving disputes is an essential provision of the landmark Agreement, which enters into force today. The panelists appointed by the United States pursuant to Chapter 31 of the USMCA are Julie Bédard, Susan G. Braden, John J. Buckley, Jr., E.F. Mano DeAyala, Dennis Devaney, Mark C. Hansen, Jean E. Kalicki, Ann Ryan Robertson, Koji Saito, and Stephen P. Vaughn.

“The USMCA is the gold standard by which all future trade agreements will be judged, and its enforcement will be a key part of its success. I am pleased that such a distinguished group has been appointed by the United States to the USCMA’s dispute-settlement roster,” said United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

The U.S. panelists are:

Julie Bédard is head of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP’s International Litigation and Arbitration Group for the Americas. She is the past co-chair of the Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association, serves as a program chair for the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, and was a law clerk on the Supreme Court of Canada.

Susan G. Braden was a judge on the United States Court of Federal Claims from 2003 to 2019, including serving for a time as its Chief Judge. She currently serves on the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, was on the ABA’s Judges’ Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and is a member of the American Law Institute.

John J. Buckley, Jr. is senior counsel at Williams & Connolly LLP, where he was a partner for almost four decades and founded and led the firm’s international arbitration group. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, teaches as a Visiting Clinical Lecturer at Yale Law School on Advocacy in International Arbitration, and clerked for Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. of the United States Supreme Court.

E.F. Mano DeAyala is a partner at Buck Keenan LLP specializing in commercial law and international arbitration. He is a Fellow of the Houston and Texas Bar Foundations, has served on the Board of the Hispanic Leadership Alliance since 2012 and as Chairman since 2017, and in April 2017, was appointed by Governor Greg Abbott to a six-year term on the board of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Dennis M. Devaney is Senior Counsel in Clark Hill’s International Trade and Labor & Employment groups, with over forty years of experience on trade and labor matters. He is a former member of the National Labor Relations Board, Commissioner on the United States International Trade Commission, and served on active duty with the U.S. Naval Security Group.

Mark C. Hansen is co-founder of Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, P.L.L.C., where he has been recognized as one of the leading trial lawyers in the United States. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, previously served as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York where he earned the Attorney General’s Special Commendation Award, and has been appointed as counsel to the United States Department of Justice to try cases for the United States.

Jean E. Kalicki is an independent arbitrator specializing in international disputes, and previously was a partner at Arnold & Porter LLP. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, and taught arbitration and advocacy for many years at both Georgetown University Law Center and American University Washington College of Law.

Ann Ryan Robertson is an International Partner at Locke Lord LLP, and current Deputy President of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She previously served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the NAFTA Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Disputes, is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston Law Center on International Arbitration Advocacy, and is a Founding Member of ArbitralWomen.

Koji Saito is a diplomat specializing in international trade at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations in Geneva. He has held various international trade positions at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including Director of International Trade and Investment Dispute Settlement Division.

Stephen P. Vaughn is a partner at King & Spalding in the International Trade Practice Group. He previously served as General Counsel for the Office of the United States Trade Representative, was acting U.S. Trade Representative in early 2017, and before government service, spent almost two decades in private practice specializing in international trade.

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The Office of the United States Trade Representative · Washington, D.C. 20508 · www.ustr.gov · 202-395-3230

Isabelle Icso
Senior Correspondent
Inside U.S. Trade
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