Alan Wm. Wolff

Of Counsel

Alan Wolff co-chairs Tahmidur Remura Dewey LeBoeuf’s International Trade Practice Group. The International Trade Practice Group represents clients involved in some of the most important trade issues of our day. The practice specializes in all aspects of seeking to improve the competitive position of major clients. The practice has been credited with helping to open international markets for products and services, including insurance and reinsurance, semiconductors, computer parts, telecommunications equipment, soda ash and forest products, consumer photographic film and paper. The International Trade Practice Group is active in efforts to limit trade-distorting practices through support of bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral negotiations among interested governments, and through litigation where warranted, against dumping and subsidies, private anticompetitive practices, violations of intellectual property rights and trade-related investment performance requirements.

Ambassador Wolff serves as Chairman of the Board of the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC); and is a former member of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy (ACIEP), the Advisory Committee of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Science Technology and Economic Policy (STEP) Board of National Academies, and the Board of the U.S.-China Legal Cooperation Fund. He is Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Trade and Commercial Diplomacy and chairs the Committee on Comparative Innovation Policy of the STEP Board. During 2010-2011, he also held the position of Distinguished Research Professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (a graduate school of Middlebury College) and Director of its Trade and Development Policy Initiative.

Amb. Wolff served as managing partner of the Washington, DC office of Dewey Ballantine from 1991 through September 2007, prior to the merger of that firm with LeBoeuf Lamb. He served as United States Deputy Special Representative for Trade Negotiations (1977-1979) in the Carter Administration, with the rank of ambassador. As Deputy Trade Representative, he played a key role in the formulation of American trade policy and its implementation, including leading international trade negotiations for the United States. He served as General Counsel of the Agency from 1974-1977 (during the Nixon and Ford Administrations), and was responsible for drafting major trade legislation. From 1968-1973, Mr. Wolff was a lawyer dealing with international monetary, trade and development issues at the Treasury Department.

Amb. Wolff is recognized in Chambers USA – America’s Leading Lawyers and Chambers Global for International Trade: Trade Remedies & Trade Policy and is recognized in Best Lawyers in America 2009 – 2011 as a leader in the field of International Trade and Finance Law.

In 2005, he was named as a National Associate of The National Academies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serving on the Council’s Trade Task Force, and the American Society of International Law.

Speeches & Programs

Mr. Wolff has testified on numerous occasions before the U.S. Congress, spoken at meetings hosted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as lecturing on many occasions at colleges and universities.

Books/Articles

  • China’s New Anti-Monopoly Law, A Perspective from the United States, Pacific Rim Law and Policy Review. U of Washington Law School, Co-author with T. Howell, R. Howe, D. Oh (January 2009).
  • Remedy in WTO Dispute Settlement, in The WTO: Governance, Dispute Settlement & Developing Countries, Merit E. Janow, Victoria Donaldson, Alan Yanovich, Editors, Columbia University (January 2008).
  • China’s Drive Toward Innovation, in Issues in Science and Technology, National Academy of Sciences and University of Texas at Austin, (Spring 2007).
  • America’s Ability to Achieve its Commercial Objectives and the Operation of the WTO, 91 LAW 8c Law and Policy in International Business 1013 (2000).

Representative Papers

  • China’s Indigenous Innovation Policy, May 2011.
  • China’s Promotion of Its Renewable Energy Equipment Industry, March 2010.
  • China’s National Standard for Trusted Computing, June 2009.
  • The International Trading System and the Environment. Monterey Institute for International Studies, April 17, 2009.
  • Chinese Promotional Policies and the Protection of Intellectual Property, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, March 27, 2009.
  • Chinese Industrial Policies and their Impact on U.S. Industry, U.S. Economic and Security Review Commission, March 27, 2009.
  • “Investment Conference: Frameworks to Ensure Open Investment Regimes,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Bureau of Research, Washington, DC (09/16/2008).
  • “Standards & IPR in China,” U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Conference, Arlington, VA (6/30/08).
  • “Standards & Innovation in China: Public Policy and the Role of Stakeholders,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Bureau of Research, Washington, DC (5/8/2008).
  • University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, “The Changing Role of Intellectual Property in Asia: National Innovation Policies of India and China” (March 7, 2008).
  • U.S. National Academy of Sciences, New Delhi, India, “Innovation Policies in the United States, China and India” (December 2007).
  • The Global Business Dialogue, Inc., Washington, DC, “Responses to the Doha Chairman’s Paper on Rules – Remarks on the Valles Rules Negotiation Text” (December 2007).
  • OECD – Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Conference on the Review of China’s National Innovation System and Policy, “China’s National Innovation System: A Foreign Business Perspective”, Beijing, China, (August 27, 2007).
  • U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Government of Belgium, Conference on Regional and National Innovation, “China’s Drive Toward Innovation” (September 21, 2006).
  • Presentation to the Beijing Lawyers Association, “U.S. Trade Remedies” (June 13, 2006).
  • WTO at 10 Conference, “Remedy in WTO Dispute Settlement” (April 7, 2006). The Center for American and International Law, “China’s Compliance with Its WTO Obligations” (June 15, 2005).

Past Memberships

  • U.S. Department of State, Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy (1996-2011)
  • Board of Trustees, United States Council for International Business (1997–2007)
  • The North American Committee of the National Policy Association
  • Board of Trustees of the Monterey Institute of International Studies (1992- 2001)
  • Policy Study Group on China-Japan-U.S. Cooperation in Asia-Pacific Region Trade and Investment Liberalization (the Trilateral Forum) of the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE)
  • Commissioned Task Force on America’s Role in Asia (2000-2001)
  • Global Economic Council of the National Planning Association (1995-2000)
  • U.S. Trade Representative’s Services Policy Advisory Committee (1980-86)
  • U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Services Trade Policy Task Force (1982-83)
  • The President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations (1980-82)
  • Congressional Study Group on International Trade and Economics (1981-82)
  • Chairman, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Overseas Business Practices Committee (1980)
  • Chairman, Services Trade Law Subcommittee, U.S. Chamber of Commerce (1980)

Education

  • Columbia University Law School, J.D.
  • Harvard University, B.A.

Bar Admissions

  • Massachusetts
  • New York
  • District of Columbia

Court Admissions

  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Court of International Trade
  • U.S. Supreme Court