Pathways to Opportunity Series: Careers in International Trade & Law

Fall Session

 Students heard sessions on Careers in Law in Government and Careers in Law in the Private Sector.

This event was also live streamed for interested students at universities not located in the DC-area.

Program Agenda:

12:00 PM ET: Doors Open – Lunch will be provided

12:30 PM ET: Welcome & Introduction

Diego Añez, Executive Director, WITA Academy; Managing Director, Washington International Trade Association (University of Georgia)

Kenneth I. Levinson, Chief Executive Officer, Washington International Trade Association (WITA) (M.A. New York University, B.A. University of Massachusetts)

12:30 PM ET – 1:00 PM ET: Opportunities in the Public Sector

Samuel Negatu, Assistant General Counsel, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; former Legislative Director, U.S. House of Representatives (J.D. Washington University in St. Louis – B.A. University of California, Santa Barbara)

Alexandra Whittaker, Democratic Chief Trade Counsel, House Committee on Ways and Means; former Assistant General Counsel, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (J.D. Howard University School of Law – B.A. Spelman College)

Moderator: Dontai Smalls, Senior Vice President, Global Public Affairs, UPS (J.D. Georgetown University Law Center – B.A. Howard University)

1:00 PM ET – 1:30 PM ET: Opportunities in the Private Sector

Derick Holt, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP (J.D. Howard University School of Law – B.A. Towson University, Political Science & Economics)

Olivia Igbokwe, Lead, US Federal Political Affairs, Amazon Web Services; former Director, Global Government Affairs, Conduent (J.D. Howard University School of Law – B.S. The University of Texas at Austin)

Moderator: Dontai Smalls, Senior Vice President, Global Public Affairs, UPS (J.D. Georgetown University Law Center – B.A. Howard University)

Fall Semester Host:

Local University Outreach:

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES:

Derick G. Holt is a Partner at Wiley Rein LLP. Derick represents clients in a variety of international trade matters, including antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, export controls, and sanctions compliance programs. He practices before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Court of International Trade, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the U.S. International Trade Commission. His work involves a broad range of industries, including steel and downstream steel products, aluminum extrusions, renewable energy products, personal transportation, and logistics products. When Derick is not protecting domestic industries from unfairly traded imports, he represents low-income D.C. residents in landlord-tenant disputes.

Olivia Igbokwe leads Congressional and Political Affairs for Amazon Web Services where she brings over a decade of experience working in global government affairs. Igbokwe-Curry specializes in federal public policy, concentrating on Artificial Intelligence.  In her role, Igbokwe-Curry leads a team that serves as the primary liaisons between the AWS business and Capitol Hill.  She is an alumnus of Howard University School of Law and has her Bachelors of Science from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to AWS, Igbokwe-Curry led Federal Affairs at Conduent, formerly Xerox Services.

Samuel Negatu is Assistant General Counsel to the U.S. Trade Representative. Mr. Negatu spent six years in the House of Representatives, most recently as Legislative Director for Representative Jimmy Gomez (CA). He also served as a staff negotiator for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) working group, addressing labor issues in negotiations between USTR and House Democrats. Prior to that, he served as Legislative Counsel for Representative Matt Cartwright (PA). Originally from California, Samuel received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his Juris Doctor from Washington University in St. Louis.

Alexandra Whittaker is Chief Trade Counsel and Trade Staff Director to the Chairman and Democratic Members of the Committee on Ways and Means. She previously served two years on the Committee as Trade Counsel.

Before joining the Committee staff, Alexandra was Assistant General Counsel for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) with responsibility for providing legal counsel and policy guidance on a wide variety of international trade matters, as well as litigating trade remedies and agricultural disputes before the WTO. During her time at USTR, Alexandra also served as Assistant Legal Advisor to the U.S. Mission to the WTO in Geneva, Switzerland, where she was a U.S. negotiator for the WTO dispute settlement reform negotiations and represented the United States in all disputes and dispute-related matters before the WTO.

Alexandra previously worked as an environmental attorney for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and counsel for a trade association. She is currently a lecturer at Columbia Law School.

Alexandra is a proud graduate of Spelman College and Howard University School of Law.

Dontai Smalls is Senior Vice President of Global Public Affairs at UPS. A native of South Carolina, he joined the UPS Global Public Affairs function in the Washington, DC office in October 1999. He coordinates all international issues on Capitol Hill for UPS, particularly global trade and customs modernization policy. He also coordinates UPS’ global aviation portfolio in DC. He is responsible in Washington for managing the relationships between UPS and Europe, including the embassies. Dontai also manages the relationship between UPS and the Congressional Study Groups, which provides substantive, issue-based opportunities for Members of Congress to engage with their counterparts abroad.

From 2005-2007, he served as counsel to UPS’s Air Group Legal Department in Louisville, KY. In that capacity, he focused on all brokerage/customs, flight operations, international operations and real estate/airport property issues relating to UPS Airlines, one of the largest airlines in world.

Prior to coming to UPS, Dontai completed various internships in Washington, including The White House, Department of Energy, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He is Chairman of the Board of Directors at the United Planning Organization, the City’s largest anti-poverty nonprofit organization and also serves on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, the Express Association of America (Vice President), the South Carolina Business Council in Washington, and the International Aviation Club (Treasurer).

Dontai received his Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center and his Bachelor of Arts cum laude in political science from Howard University.

He and his wife, Jennifer, reside in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC with their two children.

For questions about the event, please contact the WITA Staff events@wita.org.

To become a Law Partner sponsor or to learn more about other sponsorship opportunities, please click here or email Diego Añez danez@wita.org.

About The International Trade & Law Series

The WITA Academy has launched a new Pathways to Opportunity Program on Careers in International Trade & Law. Law students and undergraduates will hear from law firms and trade professionals about career opportunities in international trade and law.

WITA Academy Pathways programs seek to bring the best and brightest, next generation workforce into the trade policy community – diversifying its network of professionals with new talent that may not have previously sought careers in international trade. 

This new initiative features both virtual and in-person events in Washington, DC, with sessions on public and private sector career pathways. The series is geared towards pre-law and law students. The Spring session was held in-person at Georgetown Law on April 10, and the Fall session will be held in-person at Howard Law on September 10. Virtual events will be announced in the weeks to come.

All programs are free to attend for interested students.

The mission of the WITA Academy™ is to make trade education and career opportunities in international trade accessible to communities in the United States and around the world, and to make the trade community itself more diverse, equitable and inclusive.

The WITA Academy works with trade leaders in businesses, law, academia, NGOs, embassies and the U.S. Government to help stakeholders, students, and others to better understand and navigate the U.S. and global trade policy apparatus.

Thank you to our WITA Academy Sponsors

Law Partner Sponsor