Claus Zimmermann

Claus Zimmermann advises governments, trade associations and enterprises from around the world on all aspects of EU foreign trade and regulatory law, general public international law as well as on international economic law, especially WTO law and free trade agreements. The main focus of his practice since 2011 has been to assist clients navigate geopolitical risks and the increasingly complex legal frameworks pertaining to market access and regulatory barriers, trade remedies (anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguards), foreign-direct investment screening, and trade compliance, notably in the fields of customs, EU sanctions law and export controls. With well over a decade of experience advising on compliance with various EU sanctions regimes and export controls, Claus and his team have been at the forefront of this field. They are also adept at handling complex internal investigations and carrying out audits of internal compliance mechanisms.

Claus has many years of experience as litigation counsel in complex proceedings before the WTO (assisting clients at all stages of WTO dispute settlement, in over 20 distinct disputes, across a wide range of WTO agreements), the General Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union and various national courts. He also possesses rich experience representing clients in high-profile trade-remedy investigations before the European Commission, across a variety of industry sectors.

Claus holds an LL.M. from Yale Law School and doctorates in both public international law (University of Oxford) and economics (University Paris 1 "Panthéon-Sorbonne") and thus brings a sought-after dual perspective to his work. He is a regular speaker at international conferences, and his research has been published in leading journals such as the American Journal of International Law and the European Journal of International Law.