Brendan McGivern is the Executive Partner of the Geneva office of White & Case LLP. He is the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) practice of the Firm. Mr. McGivern practices international trade law, particularly the law of the WTO. He advises companies, industry associations and sovereign governments on the full range of WTO disciplines, including anti-dumping, subsidies and countervailing measures, safeguards, technical barriers to trade, state-trading enterprises, services and intellectual property. He represents WTO Member states in dispute settlement proceedings before panels and the Appellate Body. He counsels sovereign governments on the negotiation of bilateral and regional free trade agreements. He has extensive experience in international energy trade law issues.

Mr. McGivern served as a member of the WTO arbitration panel in the US - 1916 Anti-Dumping Act case, which adjudicated a request by the European Communities for retaliatory trade sanctions against the United States.

Prior to joining White & Case, Mr. McGivern was the senior legal adviser and the head of the Dispute Settlement section at the Canadian Mission to the WTO in Geneva. He frequently presented arguments to WTO dispute settlement panels and the Appellate Body.

Mr. McGivern has been repeatedly listed in both Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business and Who's Who Legal - The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers. Chambers Global states that: "McGivern is deemed an 'excellent practitioner across the board' by market sources, who say he is 'one of the go-to guys in Geneva' due to his 'immense WTO experience, highly articulate manner and superb communications skills.'"

He is a regular public commentator on WTO matters. He has been quoted on WTO dispute settlement issues by numerous media, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, CBS News, ABC News, CNBC, USA Today, Business Week, Forbes, the International Herald Tribune, Reuters, the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Agence France-Presse and National Public Radio. He has also been interviewed on Bloomberg Television and Radio France about WTO issues.

Mr. McGivern is an active public speaker on WTO legal and policy issues. His speaking engagements include:

• "Effective Compliance and Legal Remedies." Speaker at symposium, World Trade Organization, Geneva. November 17, 2011.
• "Recent Case Law and Hot Topics in WTO Jurisprudence." Presentation to the symposium on International Trade Law Practice under the WTO, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, July 20, 2011
• "The World Trade Organization in the 21st Century: Relevance for Private Companies." Presentation to the European Legal Council of The Conference Board, Geneva, June 24, 2010
• "Mutually Agreed Solutions: Advantage or Hurdle for Developing Countries?" Presentation to the Symposium on "DSU Reform and Beyond - Enhancing Developing Countries' Capacity to Participate in WTO DSU Proceedings." International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Geneva, November 3, 2009
• Chair, "The Global Financial Crisis — WTO Rules and the Role of the State." White & Case session at the 2009 WTO Public Forum, Geneva, September 30, 2009
• "WTO Dispute Settlement and the Role of Private Counsel." Presentation at the Roskilde University session at the 2009 WTO Public Forum, Geneva, September 29, 2009
• "The Appellate Body Decision in US – Continued Suspension and the Deference Standard", part of the Panel on "View from the Bench and Bar: A Year in Review." Presentation to the Ninth Annual WTO Conference, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London, May 20, 2009
• "Application of the General Exceptions after Tyres and Gambling – Implications for Trade and Climate Change" and "Roundtable on WTO Litigation: Views from the Bench and Bar on Effective Written and Oral Advocacy." Presentations to the Eighth Annual WTO Conference, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London, May 13, 2008
• "Dispute Resolution under the General Agreement on Trade in Services." Presentation to the Seminar on "GATS and Financial Services." British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London, May 13, 2008
• "China and the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade." Presentation to the EU-China Trade Project, Nanning, May 5, 2008 and Hangzhou, May 8, 2008
• "From US – Shrimp to EC – Biotech: An Overview of the Trade and Environment Debate in WTO Jurisprudence." Presentation to the 2007 WTO Forum, October 5, 2007
• "The WTO Gambling Case and the 'Public Morals' Defense" and "The WTO Subsidies Regime." Presentations to the Eighth Annual Vienna Globalization Symposium, Vienna, Austria, May 31 – June 1, 2007
• "The Demise of the Doha Round: What’s Next?" Presentation to the Japan Machinery Centre for Trade and Investment, Tokyo, September 7, 2006
• "Moving the Goalposts: The Appellate Body and the Evolving Standard of Review in WTO Dispute Settlement." Ninth Annual Conference on Dispute Resolution in the World Trade Organization, Cameron May, Geneva, June 23, 2006
• "The Mexico Soft Drinks Dispute: Background and Overview." Symposium on the WTO Mexico Soft Drinks Dispute – Implications for Regionalism and for Trade and Sustainable Development, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Geneva, May 30, 2006
• "WTO Dispute Settlement: The Standard of Review." Symposium on "Environment and Trade Jurisprudence at the WTO: Linkages to the Negotiations" sponsored by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) during the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial Conference, Hong Kong, December 13, 2005
• "Governance in the World Trade Organization." Conference on International Trade, Standards and the Consumer, Geneva, September 21, 2005
• "Problems in the Enforcement of WTO Rulings." Eighth Annual Conference on Dispute Resolution in the World Trade Organization, Cameron May, Brussels, June 25, 2005
• "Governance, Consumer Representation and the WTO." Symposium on the Role and Impact of International Standards in Trade, World Trade Organization, Geneva, June 15, 2005
• "Lawyers and Professional Ethics in WTO Dispute Settlement: Time to Fill the Gap?" Presentation to the WTO Secretariat, Geneva, November 5, 2004
• "The WTO Dispute Settlement Body: Monitoring of the Implementation of Rulings and the Compliance Process." 48th Annual Congress of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) – Joint Session of the EU and Competition Law Commissions with the World Trade Organization, Geneva, September 3, 2004

Education
LLB, University of British Columbia, 1984
MA, International Affairs, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa, 1981
BA, International Relations, University of British Columbia, 1980

Professional Associations and Memberships
International Bar Association

Publications
"Expert Analysis: WTO's Stance on US Zeroing in Vietnam Shrimp Scrap." Law 360: International Trade, July 27, 2011
"Aircraft Subsidies and WTO Rules: The Airbus Decision," (2010) 35 Air and Space Law pp. 305–315
"Dispute Settlement under the GATS: The Gambling and Telecoms cases," The World Trade Organization and Trade in Services, Martinus Nijhof/Brill Publishers, 2008
"WTO Dispute Settlement After Doha: A 'Risk of Imbalance'?" Bridges (International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development), August 2006
"Retaliation Revisited: Compliance and Implementation Issues in WTO Dispute Settlement," Reform and Development of the WTO Dispute Settlement System, Cameron, May 2006
"Implementation of Panel and Appellate Body Rulings," Key Issues in WTO Dispute Settlement: The First Ten Years, Cambridge University Press, 2005
"WTO Governance," Decision Making in the Global Market Trade, Standards and the Consumer, Consumers International, 2005
"No Change of Heart on the Precautionary Principle: The WTO 'Apples' Dispute," Bridges, February 2004
"Seeking Compliance with WTO Rulings: Theory, Practice and Alternatives," The International Lawyer (American Bar Association), Spring 2002
Co-author, "The Right to Retaliate under the WTO Agreement: the 'Sequencing' Problem," Journal of World Trade, April 2000
Co-author, "Dispute Settlement under the World Trade Organization," Carswell's Handbook of International Dispute Resolution Rules, Carswell Thomson Publishing, 1999
"Kyoto Protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change," International Legal Materials (American Society of International Law), January 1998

Languages
English
French

Citizenship
Canada
Ireland