The following is an excerpt from Practice Perspectives: Vault's Guide to Legal Practice Areas.
Todd Friedbacher helps clients manage the risk of doing business across borders by leveraging the powerful market access and enforcement tools provided by the World Trade Organization (WTO) treaty and the hundreds of other bilateral and regional trade agreements in place worldwide. Todd co-founded Sidley’s Geneva office in 2002, and serves both as the managing partner of the office and as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. He is a recognized leader in international trade and WTO law, having represented clients in 60 WTO disputes, involving more than 100 distinct WTO dispute settlement proceedings in his nearly 30 years of practice.
Katherine Connolly advises government and commercial stakeholders on all aspects of international trade law and policy, with a focus on the rules of the WTO. She has represented sovereign clients through each stage of the WTO dispute settlement process on issues ranging from trade remedies, customs valuation, SPS/TBT regulations, environmental and other policy justifications, and national security. Her experience also covers legal and policy issues arising at the intersection of trade, business, and sustainability. She focuses on new international rule-making on sustainable trade; business and human rights; national and international supply chain regulation; and emerging regulation on carbon pricing and offsets.
Describe your practice area and what it entails.
As part of Sidley’s Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy practice, we represent sovereign states and large commercial stakeholders in litigation before international tribunals, such as the WTO, the ICJ, or ad hoc arbitral tribunals. The disputes arise under public international law, often with a focus on international economic law, as memorialized in treaties and/or customary international law. Advising sovereign states requires looking beyond the four corners of the particular dispute at hand to help a state navigate its systemic interests. For lawyers interested in practicing international law, the work can be an exciting mix of law, economics, policy, and politics, and a healthy dose of both substantive and procedural novelty.
What types of clients do you represent?
Our clients are sovereign states, both developing and developed, as well as large commercial stakeholders typically with significant enough cross-border operations to give them a stake in the outcome of international law disputes.
What types of cases/deals do you work on?
We work on matters across all sorts of international fora. Right now, we are in the middle of the panel stage of a WTO dispute; we’re drafting responses to panel questions, then another rebuttal submission due a few weeks later. It’s fast-paced litigation, which keeps you on your toes.
The team is also representing a small-island developing state in a submission before the International Court of Justice on states’ international legal responsibilities in response to climate change. It is a huge project, and we have been impressed by how many of the firm’s young lawyers in particular—across five different offices—have enthusiastically volunteered their time.
How did you choose this practice area?
Todd: I finished my studies the year the WTO came into existence. I knew I wanted to practice international law, but I had no idea what exactly that meant or what opportunities would present themselves. I had the good fortune to start practicing at a firm that had recently hired a group of former trade officials who had negotiated the WTO Agreement and bilateral investment treaties (BITs). The group saw a market opportunity to represent states and commercial stakeholders in WTO and BIT disputes. I was present at the creation, so to speak, and the work evolved from there, with an emphasis for me on WTO disputes. After a few years, I was spending so much time in Geneva that the firm tasked me with opening a Geneva office directly across the street from the WTO, with a former colleague who is now retired.
What is a typical day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?
Katherine: There’s not really a typical day; here’s what I did today. Overnight, we got back client comments on a draft submission due shortly. I implemented the client’s comments and discussed with the handling partner whether we should submit a particular piece of material as evidence. I also talked with a junior associate on a plan to get the exhibits organized. So, a nice mix of working in my office and talking to colleagues.
Todd: Alongside my client-facing practice, I also serve in firm management, in roles supporting our finance and accounting function, and as managing partner of our Geneva office. My days involve a mix of client interaction, often on strategic questions about how best to position themselves to advance their interests; reviewing and revising written drafts prepared by colleagues; and engaging with my partners on revenue-generating and expense-saving opportunities that will boost the firm’s financial performance.
What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?
Young lawyers would benefit tremendously from moot court experience in any of the international law competitions. It offers a flavor of what it takes to be a strong advocate: being a good storyteller, both orally and in writing. Understanding how to command and weave a persuasive narrative that wins hearts and minds is critically important. It is also useful to take courses in both general principles of public international law, and in economics and statistics, since much of the evidence involved in these disputes uses econometrics to establish (or break) causal links between government action and alleged harm.
What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?
International law is deeply affected by geopolitics. The practice changes constantly as conflict, inflation, pandemics, climate change, evolving attitudes about globalization, and any number of other challenges impact states’ willingness to submit to international law. These forces are beyond our control, but as lawyers, we have to remain nimble so that we are well placed to serve our clients, as geopolitics affect their needs and objectives in international litigation.
What do you like best about your practice area?
Katherine: The practice area is really varied and interesting, always with an international/geopolitical flavor. That can be a double-edged sword in these times, but it’s certainly never boring. As legal counsel in this space, we’re ultimately just technicians in a much, much bigger set of systems, but it’s fascinating to be a fly on the wall.
Todd: We were the first to set up shop here in Geneva with an exclusive focus on WTO work. There was no script for how to do it: the work was new, the market was new, it was completely greenfield. So, as a first mover and market leader in this space, we have always attracted exceptional talent. You get the very best of the best when you’re lucky enough to be in this position. What I like most about my practice is helping these young lawyers develop into exceptional global advocates with long and successful legal careers. Working together with such talent remains compelling for me more than anything else.
What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?
When we’re in the busy stage of a dispute, junior lawyers will spend a lot of time helping pull together the submissions: case law research, drafting, proofreading, preparing exhibits, back and forth with the client. Often, we’ll receive big batches of information from the client that a junior will need to carefully go through. It’s not for everyone, but I always found it quite fun, like detective work.
How do you see this practice area evolving in the future?
International law and international litigation are critical safety valves, giving states a way to address their differences in court instead of on the battlefield. As alliances develop and shift, preserving that safety valve is ever more important. The battle against climate change will also be waged first and foremost on the international plain; this challenge will occupy much of international litigation across multiple fora in the years to come.