Equalizing Access to the WTO: How Indian Trade Lawyers Build State Capacity

Mexico - 14 July 2017

Trade topics: International Trade Law

The law of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is not autonomous. It shapes and is shaped. It affects not only countries’ trade and tariff policies, but also shapes their laws, regulations and institutions. In particular, it creates new accountability mechanisms with particular normative frames, and opens markets creating new demand for professional expertise, such as legal expertise. This study examines the growing role of Indian lawyers in the transformation of Indian trade policy through the development of trade-related legal capacity. The study builds from years of field research in India and Geneva, involving semi-structured interviews with over fifty (plus 13) Indian officials and stakeholders.

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