Theodore W. Kassinger

Partner

Ted Kassinger is a partner in O’Melveny’s Washington, DC office. He co-chairs the International Trade practice group. Ted counsels U.S. and foreign clients engaged in transnational business transactions, with an emphasis on international trade and investment regulatory matters. Calling on his more than 30 years of private practice and government experience, he also provides public affairs advocacy and strategic counseling advice involving a wide range of policy issues.

Ted joined the firm after serving as the Deputy Secretary (2004 - 2005) and General Counsel (2001 - 2004) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. As Deputy Secretary, he was responsible for the day-to-day management of the approximately $6.2 billion budget, 13 operating units, and 39,000 employees. The Department’s varied missions include promoting U.S. exports, administering unfair trade laws, and negotiating and enforcing international trade agreements; serving as effective stewards of the nation’s ocean, coastal, and living marine resources; formulating technology and telecommunications policy and administering the federal radio frequency spectrum; administering the patent and trademark system; and developing and applying technologies, measurements, and standards. As the second-ranking Department official, Ted oversaw programmatic development and implementation of those missions and represented the Department in senior policymaking councils of the Administration and before Congress.

As General Counsel, Ted served as the Department’s chief legal and ethics officer. His responsibilities included determining legal positions taken by the Department in significant litigation, administrative, legislative, and policy matters; supervision of the Department’s ethics program; and management of the nearly 300 lawyers who advise and represent the Department on legal and ethics matters. Among other responsibilities, he co-chaired the Commercial Law Working Group of the United States -- China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade.

Upon the conclusion of his tenure at the Commerce Department, Ted received the Secretary of Commerce’s William C. Redfield Award, the Department’s highest honor.

From 1985 to 2001, Ted practiced law with another major international law firm, following earlier service as an attorney with the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Ted is Chairman of the U.S. Department of State's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He also serves as a member of the Board of the Earth Conservation Corps, and of the Board of Advisers to the Dean Rusk Center for International, Comparative, and Graduate Legal Studies.

Ted has been recognized by such publications as Chambers USA, Euromoney, and Washingtonian as a leading practitioner in the area of international trade law.

Professional Activities

Member, Council on Foreign Relations, Board of Advisors of the Dean Rusk Center for International, Comparative and Graduate Legal Studies at the University of Georgia School of Law
Author, “Antidumping Duty Investigations,” Law and Practice of U.S. International Trade Regulation (1987, 1989); and chapters on GATT Antidumping, Procurement, Standards, and Subsidies Codes in Basic Documents of International Economic Law, (CCH International and Westlaw 1990)
Co-Author, ”Antidumping Duty Investigations,” Law and Practice of United States International Trade Regulation, Oceana Publications (1996 update); “Commercial Law Reform Issues in the Reconstruction of Iraq,” 33 Ga. J. Int'l & Comp. L. J. 217 (2004)
Honors, Named by the University of Georgia School of Law as its 2006 Carl E. Sanders Political Leadership Scholar