Professor Kuhlmann is currently a Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where she is also the Faculty Co-Director of the Center on Inclusive Trade and Development. She teaches courses in law, development, and international trade, and she is the faculty director of the WTO and International Trade Law Certificate program. Professor Kuhlmann has over twenty-five years of experience in international law, development, and trade. Her work and research focus on trade and development, regional trade agreements (with a particular focus on Africa), trade and gender, inclusive agricultural trade, comparative economic law, and the interdisciplinary connections between law and development.
In 2010, Professor Kuhlmann founded the New Markets Lab (NML), of which she remains president, a non-profit law and development innovation lab focused on inclusive legal and regulatory design, field-based law and development programs, and capacity building among lawyers and non-lawyers in economic law and regulation. She is also a Senior Associate with the Global Food Security Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and she serves as a member of the Trade Advisory Committee on Africa of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). She is also a member of the Bretton Woods Committee and WTO Gender Research Hub, and she serves on the boards and advisory boards of the Trade and Investment Law Group of the Law Schools Global League; the Forum on Trade, Environment, and the SDGs of the Graduate Institute and UN Environment Programme; the Washington International Trade Association; Listening for America; the Harvard Law and Development Society; the AI Institute for Food Systems at University of California Davis; and the Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Professor Kuhlmann was previously a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School, and she was the Yeutter Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law from 2020-21. Earlier in her career, she served as a trade negotiator at USTR and a lawyer at two international law firms, and she has held senior positions with several non-profit organizations and think tanks, including the Aspen Institute, German Marshall Fund, and an NGO focused on women’s rights. She holds degrees from Harvard Law School and Creighton University and was the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to study international economics.
She is published widely and is a frequent speaker on the nexus between international trade, development, and law. Recent publications include: Legal and Institutional Dimension of the AfCFTA in the Context of Agricultural Development and Trade (Initiative for Free Trade Report “Cultivating Trade: The AfCFTA and Agriculture”, July 2022); Mapping Inclusive Trade and Development: A Comparative Agenda for Addressing Inequality and Vulnerability in International and National Law, (African Journal of International Economic Law, 2021); Resetting the Rules on Trade and Gender? A Comparative Assessment of Gender Approaches in Regional Trade Agreements in the Context of a Possible Gender Protocol Under the African Continental Free Trade Area (forthcoming, WTO); Handbook for Provisions and Options for Trade in Times of Crisis and Pandemic (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), September 2021); Using Regulatory Flexibility to Address Market Informality in Seed Systems: A Global Study, with Bhramar Dey (Agronomy, 2021); The African Continental Free Trade Area: Toward A New Legal Model For Trade and Development, with Akinyi Lisa Agutu, (Georgetown Journal of International Law, 2020); and Reconceptualizing Free Trade Agreements Through a Sustainable Development Lens, with Tara Francis, Indulekha Thomas, Malou Le Graet, Mushfiqur Rahman, Fabiola Madrigal, Maya Cohen, and Ata Nalbantoglu (United Nations Hackathon top contribution, 2020).
Affiliations
Member, Trade Advisory Committee on Africa, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Member, Law Schools Global League, Trade and Investment Law Group
Member, WTO Gender Research Hub
Member, Bretton Woods Committee
Member, International Advisory Network, Forum on Trade,
Environment, and the SDGs, Graduate Institute and UN
Environment Programme
Member, Stakeholder Advisory Board, AI for Food Systems,
University of California, Davis
Member, World Economic Forum, Transformation Leaders Network
Executive Committee Member, TradeLab
Vice President of the Board, Listening for America
Board Member, Washington International Trade Association (WITA)
Board Member, Malaika Foundation
Advisory Board Member, Harvard Law and International Development Society
Advisory Council Member, Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Advisory Board Member, BlockDrop (legal-tech company)
Working Group Member, Global TechNet Working Group, Institute for Technology Law and Policy, Georgetown Law
Expert Member, E15 Working Group on Trade, Development, and
Finance, World Economic Forum and International Center for Sustainable Development
Co-Chair, Aspen Institute, Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, Policy, Legal, and Regulatory Learning Lab (co-founder and chair Legal Working Group)
Senior Associate, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Global Food Security Program
Advisory Committee Member, Trade Advisory Committee on Africa, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Member, Trade and Investment Law Group, Law Schools Global League
Member, WTO Gender Research Hub
Member, Bretton Woods Committee
