White & Case LLP's Legislative/Law Reform practice counsels sovereigns on necessary law reforms in emerging market economies; advises on treaty negotiations involving trade, taxation and investment; assists with ongoing legislation in such areas as international trade and taxation; and represents sovereigns and state-owned entities in litigations and proceedings arising from issues of public international law including multinational arrangements such as the European Union.

Law Reform
In emerging market economies, White & Case advises on, reviews or drafts privatization, capital markets, and corporatization regulations and legislation. Our lawyers counsel on laws necessary to establish a market economy including those involving trust ownership, joint stock companies, partnerships and limited partnerships as part of the implementation of privatization, as well as laws and regulations in corporate law, real estate, antitrust and bankruptcy. In addition, we assist sovereigns with new capital markets regulation and legislation. For example, we advised on the legal framework for the Russian securities markets as advisors on the privatization program. Currently we are representing the Russian Federal Commission on Securities and the Capital Markets on the creation of the first independent registrar of securities.

White & Case has been involved in the law reforms needed for a market economy in many countries, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. We have also assisted in creating securities laws in these countries, as well as in Albania, Armenia, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia.

International Trade
White & Case is unsurpassed in its breadth of experience, technical skills, and geographic coverage in the international trade area. As more markets have been liberalized and opened through bilateral and multilateral agreements, antidumping and countervailing duty codes, rules of origin, investment measures and safeguards have become the central arena for regulation of international trade. The Firm often provides counsel to sovereigns during multilateral, regional, and bilateral trade negotiations and advises on the potential ramifications of such agreements and conventions as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Uruguay Round General Agreement on Trade (GATT) 1994. We utilize that substantial experience in drafting countervailing duty and antidumping laws for sovereigns that are consistent with their multilateral, bilateral, and national concerns. We have drafted laws for the People's Republic of China, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Turkey, and the firm is currently reviewing the trade laws of Uzbekistan. Uruguay Round GATT imposes obligations on the signatories to take certain actions before levying antidumping or countervailing duties, and White & Case has counseled several countries in preparing laws consistent with the codes. We also represent sovereigns in proceedings under antidumping and countervailing duty laws, as well as other types of trade relief laws.

Tax
The firm counsels sovereign clients around the world on the restructuring and administration of their tax laws, and advises them on the negotiation of tax treaties. In the United States, we have an active legislative tax practice, headquartered in our Washington, D.C., office, that advocates the positions of our clients on tax legislation. We assist our clients in working with Members of Congress, their staff and the Administration to shape federal tax legislation and regulation.

Public International Law
White & Case's substantial experience in this branch of law, which prescribes the rights and responsibilities of sovereigns towards each other and towards the people, businesses, and organizations of other states. We frequently counsel sovereigns on the potential ramifications of certain international conventions and the interpretation of agreements and treaties such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The firm represents sovereigns in proceedings before the International Court of Justice in The Hague and in EU matters before the EU Commission or the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. We also act for sovereigns and state-owned entities in specialized tribunals and in arbitral tribunals. White & Case lawyers have represented the Republic of Indonesia in an ICSID arbitration with foreign investors arising out of its alleged expropriation of a hotel; the national oil company of an African state in a lawsuit brought against it by a Bermuda oil trading corporation involving questions of state succession; and the United States in the case brought against it by Libya at the International Court of Justice relating to the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.