SABA-DC April Dinner Series
Careers in International Affairs: Perspectives from the State Department
The United States Department of State, established in 1789 as the first federal executive branch department, is responsible for the international relations of the United States. The Department operates the diplomatic missions of the United States abroad and is responsible for implementing the foreign policy of the United States and U.S. diplomacy efforts. The Department is also the depository for more than 200 multilateral treaties.
What professional opportunities for attorneys are available at the State Department? What are the preferred paths to working at State? And what kind of background does one need?
Please join us for dinner as our dinner guests Ziad Haider, Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs, and Shubha Sastry, Attorney-Adviser at Department of State, discuss these topics, life at State, and much more.
When: Wednesday, April 20, 2016, 7 PM.
Where: Asia Nine, 915 E Street NW
Please RSVP to Priya Sundareshan at priyankasundareshan@gmail.com by noon on Tuesday, April 19, 2016.
Cost:
SABA-DC Members: $25
Non-members/public: $30
Speakers:
Ziad Haider serves as the Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. He leads the Office of Commercial and Business Affairs in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs in assisting and promoting U.S. business interests overseas; ensuring that private sector concerns are fully integrated into U.S. foreign and economic policy; and promoting global entrepreneurship and the protection of intellectual property rights.
He previously served as a Senior Advisor for international economic affairs on the Policy Planning Staff in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of State; a White House Fellow in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice; and a Foreign Policy Legislative Aide in the U.S. Senate.
Mr. Haider was an attorney at White & Case LLP where he represented clients in investor-state disputes before the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes and counseled clients on regulatory and national security matters, including U.S. sanctions and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review process.
Shubha Sastry received her B.S. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 2000 and a J.D. from the University of Chicago in 2003. After law school, she worked in the international trade and immigration practice of Hogan Lovells (formerly Hogan & Hartson). While at Hogan, Shubha worked on a variety of trade remedies litigation matters, including proceedings at the Department of Commerce, U.S. International Trade Commission, and the Court of International Trade. She also assisted clients on a range of employment-based immigration matters.
After leaving Hogan in 2007, she spent nearly six years at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, working in the Office of the General Counsel, and the Office of WTO and Multilateral Affairs. In the General Counsel’s office, Shubha litigated before the World Trade Organization dispute settlement panels and the Appellate Body, including in the U.S.-EU dispute regarding subsidies to Boeing, and in disputes brought against China in relation to audio-visual products and trade in raw materials.
In 2013, Shubha joined the Office of the Legal Adviser at the State Department, where she has worked on various matters. In late 2015, she transitioned to a new portfolio handling human rights and refugee issues, including the ongoing litigation regarding the admission of Syrian refugees. She also handles women’s human rights issues.