David J. Townsend

Practices

• International Trade & Customs

Professional Experience

David is a member of the firm's International Trade & Customs group. David's past experience includes performing research and analysis concerning export controls, Customs and Border Patrol policies, classification of goods under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, trade remedies and WTO law and dispute settlement.

Prior to law school, David worked on the Senate Agriculture Committee as the Press Secretary for then-Ranking Member Senator Tom Harkin. During his time on the Committee, David worked on the ongoing WTO Doha Round Negotiations, implementation of the recommendations of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body in the US - Upland Cotton dispute, CAFTA, and beef trade negotiations following the discovery of mad cow disease in the United States. David also worked as a research assistant for a member of the UK Parliament, Linda Gilroy, focusing on Mrs. Gilroy's work on the House of Commons Defence Committee.

David is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland.

Education

• The George Washington University Law School, J.D., 2010, with honors, Senior Articles Editor of the Journal of Energy and Environmental Law
• London School of Economics, M.S., 2007, with honors, Awarded Top Dissertation in Class for "Political Opposition to Foreign Direct Investment in the United States"
• University of Minnesota, B.A., 2004, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa

• "Preventing Opportunistic Uncompliance by WTO Members " · 14(2) Journal of International Economic Law 437-468, 2011
• "Stretching the Dispute Settlement Understanding: US — Cotton's Relaxed Interpretation of Cross-Retaliation in the World Trade Organization" · 9(2) Richmond Journal of Global Law and Business 135, 2010