Seema Sapra
Work Experience
Legal Counsel for GE Transportation India in Delhi (2010 – 5 months)
Consultant to Microsoft India on Innovation & IP law and policy – 2009-2010 in Delhi (approx. six months)
Visiting fellow at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, 2008-2009, working on trade policy, climate change and energy policy
Director – Trade & Policy, at Delhi office of law firm Amarchand Mangaldas, Suresh A. Shroff & Co, 2008. Worked on trade policy, competition policy, nuclear policy, investment policy, India’s comprehensive economic cooperation agreements, anti-dumping.
Visiting Fellow at the Institute of International Economic Law, Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC 2004-2005, worked on trade and investment policy and law
Assisted GE India General Counsel, Ruby Anand as off-counsel from approx. 1999 till 2001
Associate in the office of Soli J Sorabjee, Attorney General of India, 2000-2001
Empanelled lawyer for the Government of India in the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi in 1999-2001
Lawyer with the litigation law firm of M/s Karanjawala & Co. in New Delhi, 1995-2000
Extensive litigation experience in the Supreme Court of India, the High Court of Delhi, and various special tribunals.
Policy expertise
International Trade
Bilateral and regional trade agreements
Investment policy, bilateral investment treaties
Climate change and sustainable development
Energy efficiency and climate change
Innovation policy, technology transfer and intellectual property
Competition policy
Teaching Experience
LLM tutor for the World Trade Law joint course at University College London and the School of Oriental and African Studies (2007)
Contract law tutor for 1st Year LLB at the University of Westminster, School of Law as a part-time visiting lecturer (2007)
Guest lectures for the LLM program at Kings College London and University of Leicester law school
Education
PhD studies at Kings College London 2003-2007 (not completed)
Title of proposed thesis: The Place, Treatment, and Meaning of Development in the WTO
Research supervisor – Professor Piet Eeckhout, Kings College London
3 year research fellowship by the Centre for European Law, Kings College London
LLM in Public International Law with distinction at the University of Leicester, 2001-2003
British Chevening scholar
LLB from the Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi – Ist Division. 1995
Diploma in Environmental Law from the Centre for Environmental Law, WWF-India -1994-1995
B. A. Honors in English Literature from St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi – 1992
Editorial Assistant for the Journal of International Economic law, 2004-2005 based at Georgetown University Law Center, Washington DC
Internship with the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania 2002-2003
Publications
Article titled “Sustainable Development and the role of the Indian Supreme Court”, ASERI (Milan) publication, 2009
Article titled “An Agenda for Teaching International Economic Law in Indian Law Schools”, Indian Journal of International Economic Law, 2009, National Law School, Bangalore
Article titled “The WTO System of Trade Governance: The Stale NGO Debate and the Appropriate Role for Non-state actors” in Oregon Review of International Law Journal, volume 11 issue 1, 2009
Chapter titled ‘Domestic Politics and the Search for a New Social Purpose of Governance for the WTO: A Proposal for a Declaration on Domestic Consultation’ in Debra Steger (ed.) Redesigning the World Trade Organization for the Twenty-first Century, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2009
Chapter titled ‘New Agendas for International Economic Law Teaching in India: Including an Agenda in Support of Reform’ in Colin B. Picker, Isabella Bunn & Douglas Arner, (ed.) INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW – THE STATE & FUTURE OF THE DISCIPLINE, Hart Publishing, 2008
‘Ideas of Embedded Liberalism and Current and Future Challenges for the WTO’, in Ortino and Ripinsky, WTO Law and Process, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, 2007. pg 330 – 352
Development: Its Place, Treatment, and Meaning at the WTO / Seema Sapra (2006). In: Proceedings of the American Society of International Law Annual Meeting, Vol. 100, pg 223-226
Papers / Conferences
Presented paper titled “An Indian perspective on sustainable development: the role of the Indian higher judiciary” at panel discussion at ASERI, Milan in December 2008
Panelist for EDGE network panel on WTO Institutional Reform at the Inaugural conference of the Society for International Economic Law, Geneva, 15-17 July 2008
Presented paper titled “Developing Countries and Outreach to Non-State Actors in the WTO”, at an EDGE network project workshop on WTO institutional reform in March 2008 at Centre for International Governance Innovation, Waterloo, Ontario.
Presented paper titled “The Case for International Economic Law Teaching in India: Possible Agendas Including an Agenda in Support of Reform” at the Annual Conference of the International Economic Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law at Bretton Woods in November, 2006
Panelist at the sixth Annual WTO Conference hosted by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in May 2006, on the topic “Doha Development Round: Current and Future Challenges”
Presented paper titled “Development – Its Place, Treatment and Meaning at the WTO” at the 100th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law, Washington D.C. 2006.
Presented paper titled “Special and Differential Treatment in international trade law” at the Institute of International Economic Law (IIEL), Georgetown University Law Center in September 2005
Presented paper titled “Constructivism and Special and Differential Treatment in international trade law” at the 2005 conference of the International Law Association, British Branch held at Edinburgh in May 2005
Blog
http://indiainthewto.wordpress.com/ – a blog on issues pertaining to India’s engagement with the World Trade Organization
Memberships
Bar Council of Delhi
Society of International Economic Law
Asian WTO Research Network
