RAJ PAL advises clients in WTO dispute settlement proceedings, U.S. trade remedy proceedings, CIT/CAFC and binational panel litigation, investor-state arbitrations, and other complex matters related to international trade and investment. He is counsel in the firm’s Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy practice.
Raj has extensive experience representing sovereign governments, industry associations, and individual companies at every level of WTO dispute settlement proceedings, including at the panel and Appellate Body stages, and in the implementation and retaliation phases of disputes. Raj has advised clients in several WTO disputes, including disputes related to:
- GATT and GATS rules on scheduled concessions, market access, MFN/national treatment, quantitative restrictions, general exceptions, and security exceptions;
- prohibited and actionable subsidies, anti-dumping measures (including the U.S. practice of “zeroing”), safeguard measures, and injury determinations under the WTO Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement, WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement, and WTO Safeguards Agreement;
- customs valuation issues under the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement;
- sanitary and phytosanitary measures under the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement; and
- compliance issues under the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding.
In addition, Raj counsels sovereign governments and private parties as to whether government measures are consistent with the WTO Covered Agreements. On behalf of clients involved in foreign trade remedy investigations, Raj often works with local counsel to develop facts and structure arguments in the domestic proceedings to ensure the results of those investigations are consistent with WTO rules.
Raj also has substantial experience representing interested parties in U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing duty proceedings before the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission, and in related litigation at the U.S. Court of International Trade/U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or binational panels under the North American Free Trade Agreement/U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. With undergraduate degrees in economics and chemistry, Raj is often sought by chemical industry clients to advise in such matters. Raj has provided counsel in several U.S. trade remedy cases, including:
- Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products from Brazil, China, India, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Russia, and the United Kingdom;
- Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from India;
- Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products from Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom;
- Certain Lined Paper Products from India;
- Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada;
- Certain Stilbenic Optical Brightening Agents from China and Taiwan;
- Certain Uncoated Groundwood Paper from Canada;
- Certain Uncoated Paper from Australia, Brazil, China, Indonesia and Portugal;
- Common Alloy Aluminum Sheet from India;
- Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells from China;
- Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Products from China and Taiwan;
- Fabricated Structural Steel from Canada, China, and Mexico;
- Large Power Transformers from Korea;
- Large Residential Washers from Korea;
- Phosphate Fertilizers from Russia;
- Supercalendered Paper from Canada; and
- Titanium Sponge from Japan and Kazakhstan.
Further, Raj has experience representing interested parties in U.S. Section 232 investigations regarding the effect of imports on U.S. national security. Notably, Raj successfully advocated against the imposition of Section 232 trade measures on imports of titanium sponge.
Raj is also involved in litigation challenging the U.S. Section 301 duties on imports from China.
Moreover, Raj represents investors and governments in international arbitrations brought under bilateral and multilateral investment treaties. Raj also provides advice to businesses, trade associations, and governments regarding U.S. and international rules on trade and investment, customs, and export controls.
In recognition of Raj’s practice, he was recognized as a 2015 Rising Star by Euromoney LMG. Raj has also been listed in Who’s Who Legal since 2015 in the Trade and Customs category, and has been a recommended lawyer in the International Trade subcategory in The Legal 500 every year since 2014.
Before joining the firm, Raj participated in the Graduate Fellowship Program at the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law, Small Business and Community Development Clinic, where he helped small businesses file trademark applications, and obtain non-profit and tax-exempt status. Prior to law school, Raj spent two years as a financial analyst in the U.S. Economic Research Group at Goldman Sachs, developing economic models, and researching and writing about the U.S. economy, financial markets and international trade.
Raj is fluent in Bengali, and has elementary proficiency in Spanish.