Robert Herzstein

Mr. Herzstein served as the first Under Secretary for International Trade in the U.S. Department of Commerce during the Administration of President Carter. He has practiced law in Washington, successively as a partner at Arnold & Porter, Shearman & Sterling, and Miller & Chevalier. 

In law practice he advised U.S. and foreign companies, trade associations, and governments on international trade, foreign investment and government regulation of business. He was lead counsel to Mexico in negotiating and implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement, and advised various other governments, including Canada, Switzerland, Israel, Korea, and Japan, on legal matters affecting their economic relations with the U.S.

When President Nixon resigned, Mr. Herzstein represented American historians, political scientists, and reporters in litigation leading to a Supreme Court decision that Nixon could not take possession of the White House records and tapes created during his term of office. 

Mr. Hertzstein is Chairman of the Board for Partners for Democratic Change and of the Gulf of Mexico Partnership, and a director of the International Law Institute and the Appleseed Foundation. Previously he served as Chairman of the International Human Rights Law Group and on the governing boards of the Council of the Americas and the American Society of International Law. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Mr. Herzstein is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.  He has served as a lecturer in law at Harvard and other schools.