Anchors Away: You're in the International Law Field Now

A chat with Peter W. Davis, chief counsel, NCR Caribbean & Latin America

How exactly does someone get to the profession of international law?
It's a long story, but I came to it late. I was born in Dayton, Ohio, and hardly ever left Ohio before going to Columbia Law School. After completing my degree, I joined a firm in New York and worked on domestic antitrust matters mostly. But one Friday afternoon in 1981, a senior partner called me in his office with a request to do some basic legal research over the weekend. It was on an international legal issue, and I have to say that more than anything else I can recall, it generated some overdue reflection about my career and life choices. I concluded that 24 was too young to commit to domestic law for the rest of my life. I needed to get out and learn something about the world. I had no international background/training, so no career options were open to me. I decided one day to put law on hold. After one rewarding year at the firm and a New York bar membership, I traded my Park Avenue office for a shaved head and a Marine drill instructor at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola. I wanted to be an intelligence officer with the U.S. Navy.

Wow, that's amazing. What was this legal matter that changed your life?
Well, it wasn't so much the event as the whole idea of expanding internationally. But it was an interesting case. The Nicaraguan Sandinista government was seeking the extradition of the surviving members of the Somoza family, then living in the U.S., to face criminal charges. Our firm had been retained to defend the Somozas against extradition, and the partner needed to know our legal position by Monday. The research I performed that weekend was the first I'd ever done that genuinely engaged me. I had to learn some geography (where's Nicaragua really?), some law (how does international extradition work? is a treaty entered into with a government still effective when it is later violently overthrown?), and some politics (has the U.S. ever extradited people with the knowledge that they would not receive due process and might well be summarily executed?). Finally, a legal project that was interesting!

Yes, I see. Can you tell us about your Navy experience also?
In five years of active duty, I served with the U.S.S. Kennedy battle group throughout the Atlantic and Mediterranean. On duty in D.C., I drafted international agreements with foreign navies and served as a Navy liaison with Washington naval attachés. Without my naval service, and later in the CIA in the Intelligence Law Division, I don't see how I could have even broken into international law. Certainly, I wouldn't have had the insight and perspective that flowed from all this to be an effective international lawyer.

Since 1990, you've been with NCR, steadily moving up the ladder to chief counsel. Via all this experience, can you tell us what you think the three most important international issues are for your firm and what you're doing about them?

I would say that trade barriers, the rule (or lack of rule) of law, and corruption represent the three most important international issues for us. Destructive tariffs, duties, and other barriers to free trade persist in many countries. And your readers know all the problems the barriers can create (unfavored nations' products are disadvantaged; local firms are inordinately protected, etc.). The clearest example in my experience is in Brazil, where they continue to impose punitive duties on non-Brazilian IT products. These laws have made it almost impossible for my company, the leading worldwide manufacturer of auto-teller machines, to compete there. To deal with this problem, we-like some other firms-are working to acquire or form alliances with local companies for manufacturing. And on the macro level management should support those organizations and policy makers that encourage free trade (e.g., President Bush's initiative to create a hemisphere free trade zone).

As for the rule of law, it's terribly difficult for a U.S. company to do business in a country where the rule of law is not well established. It's just too risky. When the rule of law isn't established, lawyers and business people have to craft options and possible responses. And frequently, it is necessary to move payments, deliveries, and alternative dispute resolution schemes offshore to avoid exposure to deficient local legal conditions.

Finally, I'd say corruption represents the third biggest legal/political challenge in international business. Despite gains in this area, corruption is an established norm in many countries, particularly in Asia, and this puts companies that don't do business this way at a serious disadvantage. While U.S. firms have to obey the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, (something that I'm sure your students will study), other countries do not. I believe management and government should support organizations and people who work to eliminate corruption in international business. And I believe that the government should aggressively expose corruption by excluding those who engage in this from competition for U.S. contracts. They should also work to support victimized U.S. firms.