
B.A., Duke; M.Ed., Duke; J.D., Harvard
Jennifer A. Hillman is currently a professor of practice at the Georgetown University Law Center, teaching the lead courses in international business and international trade, while serving as a fellow of Georgetown’s Institute of International Economic Law (IIEL). She is also co-director of the Center for Inclusive Trade and Development and served as a panelist for the second dispute under the USMCA (updated NAFTA)–a dispute between the United States and Canada over the application of US safeguard measures to imports of solar panels. She recently published Legal Aspects of Brexit:Implications of the United Kingdom’s Decision to Withdraw from the European Union (IIEL 2017), drawn from a seminar she co-taught in the fall of 2016.She has also written extensively about international trade law and the WTO, including a 2017 IIEL Policy Brief on the WTO consistency of the Ryan-Brady “A Better Way” tax proposal, co-authoring the leading casebook on trade, International Trade Law, 3rd ed., Wolters Kluwer (2016), papers on recent WTO cases on sanitary and phytosanitary measures (World Trade Review) and “Changing Climate for Carbon Taxes” (GMFUS.org).
Hillman has had a distinguished career in public service, both nationally and internationally. She recently completed her term as one of seven members from around the world serving on the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Appellate Body. Prior to that, she served for nine years as a commissioner at the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), rendering decisions in more than six hundred investigations regarding injury to U.S. industries caused by imports that were dumped or subsidized, along with making numerous decisions in cases involving alleged patent or trademark infringement. Before her appointment to the USITC, Hillman served as general counsel at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), where she had previously been an ambassador and chief textiles negotiator. She also served as legislative director and counsel to U.S. Senator Terry Sanford of North Carolina.
Hillman formerly served as a partner in the law firm of Cassidy Levy Kent, a senior transatlantic fellow for the German Marshall Fund of the United States, as president of the Trade Policy Forum and on the selection panel for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the board of visitors at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.She is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and Duke University.
Awards/Recognition
- WITA (Washington International Trade Association)’s 2022 Lighthouse Award: “Another tradition at the Dinner is the honoring of an impactful individual in the trade policy community with our Lighthouse Award. Kept secret until the night of the Dinner, the Lighthouse is awarded in recognition of the contributions the individual has made over the course of his/her career to trade policy, the understanding of global trade, or expanding the benefits of global trade.”
- Women in International Trade (WIIT) 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award
- Recognition by Washingtonian as one of “The 500 Most Influential People Shaping Policy.”
Affiliations
- Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
- Co-Chair, Center for Climate and Trade, Climate Leadership Council
- Member, Roster of Panel Chairs, Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CP-TPP)
- Member, Roster of Panelists for Chapter 31 Dispute Settlement, USMCA
- Member, Roster of Panelists for Canada-Mexico Rapid Response Labor Panel
Contributions to Law Reviews and Other Scholarly Journals
Book Chapters & Collected Works
"Trump stretches trade law boundaries with Canada, Mexico, China tariffs," coverage in Reuters, February 2, 2025, featuring Professor from Practice Jennifer Hillman.
"Trump’s authority to impose sweeping tariffs to be put to the test," coverage on NBC News, November 16, 2024, featuring Professor from Practice Jennifer Hillman.
"Council Special Report: Rethinking International Rules on Subsidies," coverage in Council on Foreign Relations, September 7, 2023, featuring Professor from Practice Jennifer Hillman.
"The Biden administration faces a dilemma over the U.S.-China 'tariff war,' says professor," coverage on CNBC, June 22, 2022, featuring Professor from Practice Jennifer Hillman.