The UK’s repositioning
as a global trade partner

Lorand Bartels is counsel in the firm’s trade practice, where he advises clients on WTO law, FTAs, EU law and international law. Alongside his role at Freshfields, Lorand is professor of international law at the University of Cambridge, and as an academic he has taught, published and advised on many areas of trade law and EU law for over two decades. He has a particular specialty in the EU’s free trade agreements. Lorand has been appointed to several government bodies. He is an arbitrator for disputes under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and Chair of the UK Trade and Agriculture Commission, a statutory body which advises the UK trade minister and the UK parliament on UK FTAs and domestic legislation relevant to the agricultural sector. Lorand was also responsible for designing the UK government’s main trade law training programme for FTA negotiators after Brexit. Lorand is an Australian and Dutch national. He completed undergraduate studies at UNSW Sydney and a PhD in international law at the European University Institute in Florence. In the 2022 Queen’s New Year Honours he was awarded an MBE for services to UK trade policy.

Clare Brodie joined the TRA as our General Counsel in 2018 and was appointed an executive director of the Board in June 2021. Since 2018, she has been establishing and developing the legal function and her team provide legal advice and support on our investigations and other legal matters within the TRA.

Clare has over 25 years’ experience in regulatory and international law. She studied law at Pembroke College Cambridge before training at city law firm Lovells. She went on to work for US firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton in Brussels on anti-trust and EU law matters.

Clare then joined the Competition Commission in the UK and worked on merger and market investigations before moving into central government and working on EU law matters in the Cabinet Office, and energy efficiency and electricity market reform at the (former) Department of Energy and Climate Change. In 2015, she was made Head of EU Litigation in the Cabinet Office before joining the Brexit Department in 2016 where she worked on Brexit legislation and no deal planning.

Jennifer Revis is a partner in Baker McKenzie's London office and co-leads our EMEA Customs Team. Jennifer focuses her practice on the public regulation of international trade, particularly in a wide range of customs compliance issues. She regularly advises clients on import matters, including customs valuation, rules of origin, and classification. She has conducted on-the-ground due diligence reviews for clients, both as part of an M&A process and as part of a general internal compliance assessment. She has worked with clients designing and implementing their compliance programs, policies, procedures and risk assessments. She has also worked on significant customs investigations involving HMRC. Jennifer also advises on FTAs and trade remedies matters.

Rian is a PSL in the LexisNexis UK International Trade practical guidance team. Rian also founded and served as CEO of Trade Law Chambers and specializes in international trade, investment, commercial and financial services law. He is both an admitted solicitor of England and Wales and an attorney of South Africa. He has extensive experience in his fields of specialization and has advised multinationals, governments and inter-governmental institutions on numerous legal issues in Africa, Asia, the European Union, Oceania and the United Kingdom. Rian is consistently rated as one of the leading lawyers in international trade in the world by leading rating agencies such as Who’s Who Legal. He has also taught numerous international trade law subjects at various universities and regularly contributes to conferences on international trade law.