Embassy Expert on Chinese Trade Cases Joins King & Spalding

8 November 2005

King & Spalding LLP, a leading international law firm, announced today that Chris Cloutier, until recently a U.S. Government expert on Chinese antidumping cases and other international trade issues at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, has joined the firm as a senior associate. Cloutier brings an extensive background in China and Chinese trade remedy investigations to the firm's International Trade Group, which is resident in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. He joins King & Spalding's substantial and growing China Trade Practice, which assists U.S. and European companies, located both inside and outside China, in addressing Chinese trade issues. "Chris's experience on the ground in China assisting U.S. companies with market access issues such as participation in Chinese trade remedy investigations and intellectual property enforcement proceedings adds significantly to the knowledge and depth of our China Trade Practice, particularly our representation of U.S. and European companies exporting to China," said Stephen A. Jones, partner and leader of King & Spalding's international trade practice group. "We are pleased to welcome Chris to the firm and to our Trade Group." Cloutier joins King & Spalding from the Commercial Section of the United States Embassy in Beijing, China, where in 2002 he established an office responsible for monitoring the Chinese government's conduct of trade remedy actions. For the past three years, Cloutier has counseled U.S. exporters participating as respondents in those proceedings and has met regularly with the relevant Chinese government regulators. He frequently appeared on behalf of the United States at hearings and formal meetings. He also represented the United States in free trade negotiations with Singapore and Australia, organized training programs for Chinese government and business leaders on the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and generally assisted U.S. companies with issues related to doing business in China, such as market entry, contract enforcement, and intellectual property protection. Cloutier, who speaks Japanese and Chinese, has practiced law in Washington and worked and studied in Tokyo. He holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. He has also studied at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. "I am delighted to join King & Spalding. The International Trade Group has an excellent reputation, and its growing trade practice representing exporters of merchandise to China is second to none," Cloutier said. "I look forward to helping to expand the firm's trade practice and deepening its ability to obtain favorable results for clients in China and other jurisdictions." King & Spalding's International Trade Group is a full-service practice that represents many of the world's leading manufacturers in many different industries as both petitioners and respondents in anti-dumping, countervailing duty, and safeguards proceedings around the world. The Group, which includes 26 attorneys and consultants, assists numerous U.S. industries that have been injured by import competition to obtain and enforce antidumping and countervailing duty orders in the United States. The Group also represents exporters in more trade remedy proceedings in China and Mexico than any other U.S.-based law firm. The Group frequently represents clients involved in WTO dispute settlement proceedings, and the Group counsels numerous clients in customs, export control, economic sanctions and embargo, intellectual property, anti-boycott, Patriot Act, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance issues. About King & Spalding LLP King & Spalding LLP is an international law firm with more than 800 lawyers in Atlanta, Houston, London, New York and Washington, D.C. The firm represents more than half of the Fortune 100, and in a Corporate Counsel survey in September 2005 was ranked one of the top ten firms representing Fortune 250 companies overall. For additional information, visit http://www.kslaw.com. Contact: Jessica Schnack King & Spalding ph (212) 556-2226 jschnack@kslaw.com

Source: PR Newswire

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