Padideh Ala’i is a Professor of Law at American University, Washington College of Law (WCL) in Washington D.C. where she specializes in areas of international trade law and development and comparative legal traditions. Specifically, she teaches the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and writes in the areas of history and free trade, international efforts to combat corruption as well as issues relating to trade and good governance. In 2005 and 2009 Professor Alai was the Acting Director of the International Legal Studies Program. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1988 and was in private legal practice with the law firms of Jones Day and Reichler, Milton and Medel prior to joining the Faculty of the WCL in 1997. In private practice Professor Ala’i represented developing country governments, including Guyana, Nicaragua, Uganda, China and the Philippines in their negotiations with foreign investors, US Government and its federal agencies, as well as multilateral institutions such as the World Bank. She also represented multinational corporations in international business transaction and advised them on pending U.S. banking legislation. From 1992-1996, Professor Ala’i was part of the legal team representing the Government of Philippines in international litigation and arbitration against Westinghouse Corp. charging corruption and bribery by Westinghouse of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and defective construction of the Bataan nuclear power plant.
International Trade
Introduction to Conference, Turkey: At the Crossroads of Secular West and Traditional East, Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals (2009)
Produced as a result of a conference entitled “Turkey: At the Crossroads of Secular West...
No subject area
From the Periphery to the Center? The Evolving WTO Jurisprudence on Transparency and Good Governance, Contributions to Books (2010)
The rise of the regulatory state in the latter half of the 20th century is...
Trade and Sustainable Development, Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals (2010)
The creation of the WTO in 1995 has brought GATT Article X (and other procedural...
The WTO and the Anti-Corruption Movement, Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals (2008)
This article explores the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in promoting good governance...
Leopold & Morel: A Story of ‘Free Trade’ and ‘Native Rights’ in the Congo Free State, Working Papers (2005)
This article explores the role of the doctrine of free trade in the creation of...
Controlling Corruption in International Business: The International Legal Framework, Working Papers (2002)
Since 1995, the anti-corruption movement has had success in developing a global legal framework to...