Trading in Turbulent Times: A Conversation with Kelly Ann Shaw and Elissa Alben

Date: November 2, 2018, 3:30pm – 5:30pm
Location: Columbia Law School, Jerome Greene Hall, Room 104

CCSI and the Columbia Society of International Law co-hosted a conversation with Kelly Anne Shaw, Trade Counsel, US House Committee on Ways and Means and Special Assistant to the President for International Trade, Investment and Development, and Elissa Alben, International Trade Counsel to the Senate Finance Committee.

About Kelly Ann Shaw

Kelly Ann Shaw is Trade Counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee and was appointed this month Special Assistant to the President for International Trade, Investment and Development. Before joining Ways and Means in 2016, she served as the Assistant General Counsel at the Office of the US Trade Representative, an Assistant Legal Advisor as part of the US Mission to the WTO, and as a Litigation Associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. She received her JD from Columbia Law School in 2009, where she was a Harlan Stone Fiske Scholar. She also holds an MSc in European Politics and Governance from the London School of Economics and a BS and BA from the University of Washington.

About Elissa Alben

Elissa Alben is International Trade Counsel to the Senate Finance Committee, where she works on matters relating to trade agreement negotiations, general trade issues involving the Asia-Pacific, the World Trade Organization, and trade enforcement. She joined the Committee after eight years at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), where she served as Deputy Assistant USTR for Enforcement and Monitoring and Associate General Counsel. At USTR, she helped oversee a wide range of enforcement matters arising from WTO and U.S. free trade agreement obligations, served as chief lawyer for the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) and the United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement, and advised on issues including U.S. tariff preference programs, market access, customs, and telecommunications. She also represented the United States before WTO panels and the WTO Appellate Body. Prior to USTR, she worked for three years as an associate in the international department at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington, DC. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, concentrating in East Asian Studies, and her law degree from Columbia Law School.