Mayer Brown’s successful representation of the Government of Indonesia in a dispute before the World Trade Organization (WTO) involving clove cigarettes was named the “Global Dispute of the Year” in the International Litigation Category of the inaugural Global Legal Awards sponsored by The American Lawyer. The awards honor cutting-edge, cross-border transactions and disputes that “capture the full gamut of global legal work, regardless of the forum or mode of lawyering,” the publication said. View the article.
In Mayer Brown’s precedent-setting victory, the team led by Washington, DC Government & Global Trade partner Duane Layton secured a ruling from the WTO dispute settlement panel that a ban placed on the sale and production of certain flavored cigarettes in the United States improperly discriminated against clove cigarettes produced in Indonesia in favor of menthol cigarettes produced and sold in the US. The decision subsequently was upheld by the WTO’s Appellate Body.
American Lawyer said of the win, “Mayer Brown improbably pioneered the law in Geneva on technical barriers to trade, while arguably preserving the livelihood of millions of Indonesian clove farmers.”
Mr. Layton said, “We are honored to receive the prestigious American Lawyer Global Legal Award, which attests to the significance of the decision in the Clove Cigarette case. The rulings and rationales in this matter have been cited and relied upon in subsequent WTO disputes, and no doubt will be for many years to come.”
In addition to Mr. Layton, the Mayer Brown team included Government & Global Trade associate Margaret-Rose Sales and senior policy advisor Tiffany Smith (both Washington, DC).
The American Lawyer received more than 300 nominations for the Global Legal Awards. The magazine is an award-winning, leading news source covering legal business, law firms, and lawyers across the US and around the world.
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February 032022