Madison, WI – A distinguished UW-Madison alumnus who until recently was secretary-general of the World Federation of United Nations Associations will be on campus at the end of September to meet with faculty and students, and give a public talk on international law.
James Baker Sitrick, chairman of the executive committee of the international law firm Coudert Brothers, will speak on “A Janus Relationship: The US and International Law,” Thursday, September 22 at 3:30 p.m. at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St., Madison, Wisconsin. In his talk, Mr. Sitrick will address trends in U.S. law and America’s legal relationship with the International Criminal Court, and reform of the United Nations, now observing its sixtieth anniversary.
Mr. Sitrick served as secretary-general of the World Federation of United Nations Associations from 2004 to 2005. The WFUNA is a global network of hundreds of thousands of people linked together through United Nations associations in over 100 member states of the U.N. The networks foster people-to-people connections on critical global issues.
Mr. Sitrick is an internationally-known lawyer whose corporate and private clients have ranged from governments of foreign countries to royalty to some of the world’s largest private banks. As chairman and CEO of Coudert Brothers, New York City, he opened the first private law office in Moscow in 1988, as well as offices in Sydney, Shanghai, Bangkok, Jakarta, and San Jose, Costa Rica. From 1987 to 1992, he assisted the Republic of Ecuador in negotiations involving the restructuring of its approximately $12 billion debt to international lenders. He helped the Estee Lauder firm establish and operate all the company’s Russian activities.
Mr. Sitrick has counseled the U.S. government on U.S. tax law legislation, acted as a principal participant in taxation treaty negotiations between the U.S. and other nations, and acted as principal policy maker and draftsman of U.S. Treasury department tax rulings, and represented the U.S. Treasury Department at international conferences. As a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Mr. Sitrick has served as a member of various task forces and study groups, including those on U.S. policy toward Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, on Russia, and on international refugees.
His extra-professional and charitable activities include serving as a trustee of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., the American Friends of the British Library and the French-Institute Alliance Française, as well as other arts and cultural organizations. He lectures extensively and has contributed articles to numerous professional journals. Born in Davenport, Iowa, Mr. Sitrick received his B.B.A. (1957) at UW-Madison, and his law degree from Yale (1960).