Simon Lester

Simon Lester. J.D. is a nonresident fellow for the Baker Institute International Economics Program and the co-founder of the trade law and policy websites WorldTradeLaw.net and China Trade Monitor.

Previously, he was the associate director of the Cato Institute’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies, where his research focused on World Trade Organization (WTO) disputes, regional trade agreements, disguised protectionism and the history of international trade law.

Lester started his professional career at a Washington, D.C., law firm, where his practice included advising companies and governments on matters before the WTO and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, on cases before U.S. government agencies in matters involving anti-dumping and countervailing duty actions, and in U.S. federal court appeals of government agency decisions. He later served as a legal affairs officer at the Appellate Body Secretariat of the WTO. While there, he assisted the Appellate Body members with all aspects of the conduct of individual appeals and arbitrations before the Appellate Body.

Lester has taught courses on international trade law at American University's Washington College of Law, the University of Michigan Law School and Melbourne University Law School. He is also the co-author of a leading textbook in the field of international trade law and has published a wide range of scholarly articles, policy papers, and op-eds.

He received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.