For more than twenty years, Terry Stewart's work has placed him at the middle of some of the world's most contentious border disputes - the trade and legal battles that erupt when countries engage in practices such as dumping or restricting access to their internal markets.

As the managing partner of Stewart and Stewart, a Washington-based law firm that represents both domestic and foreign clients on issues of trade and international law, Stewart understands that such disagreements are the predictable outgrowth of a global economy's responses to technological and geopolitical change. "But these are grievances that demand redress," he emphasizes, "not deferential surrender to 'market forces.'"

Seated at a conference table in his downtown office, the tall, soft-spoken Stewart explains, "Some people believe that if a segment of the economy becomes uncompetitive, it should be written off. Our experience shows, however, that if that sector is provided breathing room for a period of time and is well managed, it can recover and become strong."

Stewart cites his firm's representation of companies or workers in four industries - the flat glass industry in the 1960s and 1970s; the United Auto Workers in a 1980 case that led to the voluntary restraint agreement with Japan; the bearings industry since the 1970s; and the steel sector in the 1970s and 1980s - as examples where legal intercession in support of import-beleaguered industries yielded positive outcomes for the affected sectors, the U.S. economy, and American workers and their communities. "In fact," observes Stewart, "over the past forty years, virtually every segment of the U.S. economy has required assistance at our borders or overseas."

Stewart and Stewart's domestic clients typically are U.S. companies and workers seeking relief from unfair import pressures, greater access to overseas markets, and assistance with customs matters. For its overseas clients, including governments in the former Soviet Union, the firm serves primarily as an advisor on international trade agreements and Western trade law.

As it happens, lawyering didn't come first for Stewart. After graduating from HBS, he worked for several years in the business trenches, in marketing at J.C. Penney and later as product manager at Kroehler Manufacturing Co., a furniture manufacturer. In 1976, he enrolled at Georgetown Law School and began working with his father, Eugene, at the firm the elder Stewart had founded in 1958.

Now under Terry Stewart's leadership, the firm operates globally, with a special interest in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. "Unfortunately, for most people there, the hope of a better life has yet to materialize," says Stewart. "As a trade lawyer, I see missed opportunities for American firms caused by the West's failure to set up lines of credit to deserving enterprises and by the unimaginative approach to doing business in the region exhibited by many companies." In 1993, Stewart established in Ukraine a joint venture that imports much-needed energy to the country and exports its products to Central Europe and other parts of the former U.S.S.R.

With an existing correspondent office in Belgium, Stewart and Stewart will add a Moscow office this year; others are planned eventually for Kiev and Geneva. Despite this heightened international presence and frequent travel abroad, Stewart will remain active with several court and bar association committees and trade organizations, and will continue as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School. "The life of a lawyer," he says with a smile, "does not lack for opportunities to give of your time."

Related link: United States Trade Representative's Homepage

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