Susan G. Esserman

Partner

1330 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20036
TEL: 202.429.6753
FAX: 202.429.3902

Susan G. Esserman is a partner in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where she is Chair of the firm’s International Department. Ms. Esserman provides legal and strategic advice to domestic and foreign clients on expanding access to global markets and represents clients in international trade litigation and dispute resolution matters. She has special experience concerning World Trade Organization (WTO) issues and the US trade laws, based on her previous high-level government positions as a US trade negotiator as well as the decision maker in antidumping and countervailing duty cases. A significant focus of Ms. Esserman's pratice involves US-India matters.

Ms. Esserman previously served as Deputy US Trade Representative, the second ranking official at USTR, with the standing of Ambassador, and she held three additional senior posts at USTR and the Department of Commerce. As Deputy USTR, Ambassador Esserman was responsible for US trade policy and negotiations in the WTO and with Europe, India, Russia, the former Soviet Union, Africa, and the Middle East. As USTR General Counsel, she played a lead role in devising US litigation strategy in the critical early years of WTO dispute resolution.

Ms. Esserman also served as the decision maker in literally hundreds of antidumping and countervailing duty cases as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Import Administration. During her tenure, she played a lead role in developing comprehensive US antidumping and countervailing duty trade legislation and regulations implementing the WTO Uruguay Round Agreement, which govern US trade cases today. She was also the administrator of the Foreign Trade Zones program. As Acting General Counsel of Commerce, she counseled the Secretary of Commerce and senior Department heads on a wide range of issues, including trade laws, regulatory reform, litigation strategy, ethics, Freedom of Information, congressional reviews and oversight, intellectual property, and procurement issues.

Ms. Esserman is a frequent speaker and writer on trade law and policy, WTO, and India issues.

Prior to her government service, Ms. Esserman was a partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP where she focused on international trade litigation and policy.

Noteworthy

Received a #1 Ranking in Chambers Global 2008: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business; US: International Trade: Trade Remedies & Trade Policy
Listed in Who's Who Legal for Trade & Customs in 2008
Received a #1 Ranking in Chambers USA 2007, America's Leading Business Lawyers; National: International Trade: Trade Remedies & Trade Policy
Listed in Washington, DC Super Lawyers 2007 for International
Listed, The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers; Trade & Customs

Success Stories

Trade Victories in India, Thailand, and Indonesia Cases

News

Speaking Engagements

Susan Esserman Speaks on Dispute Settlement Jurisprudence at Academy of WTO Law and Policy, October 24, 2006
Susan Esserman Speaks on Trade Panel: "Just Trade Under Law: Do We Need a Theory of Justice for International Trade Relations?", March 31, 2006, ASIL 100th Annual Meeting

Publications

New Equations In A New World
April 5, 2008, Outlook Business
New Equations in a New World, OutlookBusiness of India
March 21, 2008
"The Appellate Body, the WTO Dispute Settlement System, and the Politics of Multilateralism,"
2006, The WTO at Ten: The Contribution of the Dispute Settlement System, issued by the WTO
The Creative Evolution of World Trade Financial Times
August 2005
The WTO on Trial, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 82, Num.1
February 2003

Professional Affiliations

Council on Foreign Relations
Board of Directors, US-India Business Council
Board of Managerial Trustees, International Association of Women Judges
Board of Directors, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Wellesley College Business Leadership Council