Brian Peck
USC Gould School of Law

Brian Peck joined the USC Gould School of Law in 2016 and serves as executive director of the Center for Transnational Law and Business and adjunct assistant professor of law. The USC Center for Transnational Law and Business promotes world-class policy analysis and debate to help international businesses navigate the complex matrix of varied trade and compliance policies around the world.

Peck served as deputy director in charge of international affairs and business development for the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) from 2013 to 2016. GO-Biz is the lead state agency for California’s economic strategy on issues relating to international trade and investment. As an international trade and intellectual property attorney, Peck advised multinational clients on international trade, regulatory and compliance matters, international government and policy affairs, global IP asset management and trade-related IP matters.

Peck was senior director for intellectual property at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative from 2003-2005, and director of Japanese Affairs at USTR from 2001-2003. He was the lead negotiator for the intellectual property chapters in several Free Trade Agreements, including the U.S.-Colombia, U.S.-Peru and U.S.-Panama FTAs. He also oversaw the implementation of intellectual property provisions in the U.S.-Chile FTA and the CAFTA-DR Agreement. As senior director, Peck led an interagency team responsible for developing and implementing policies to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and Latin America; and was also responsible for overseeing U.S. trading partners’ compliance with bilateral and international obligations to protect and enforce IP rights. As director for Japanese Affairs, Peck co-chaired the U.S.-Japan Information Technologies Working Group, and worked on regulatory reform initiatives in Japan’s legal regime for IP rights, as well as in the IT, e-commerce and telecommunications sectors. He also led bilateral talks with several Asian countries under the WTO negotiations to liberalize international markets for services; and led the U.S. delegation at the WTO TRIPS Council meetings on IP matters.

Prior to his work for the U.S. Trade Representative, Peck was an attorney-advisor with the Office of the Chief Counsel for Import Administration at the Department of Commerce from 1998-2001, where he participated in a number of antidumping and countervailing duty cases. He also participated in litigation before the Court of International Trade and international dispute settlement panels, including an appearance before a WTO Panel in Geneva.

Before earning his law degree, Peck lived and worked in Tokyo, Japan, for more than nine years and held management positions with both U.S. and Japanese companies. Peck graduated Order of the Coif and received his law degree, cum laude, from the University of San Diego School of Law, where he served as a member of the San Diego Law Review. He received his BA from the University of California, Berkeley. 

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

Bloomberg Government
June 22, 2022
Re: Franita Tolson

Franita Tolson was interviewed about how federal lawsuits from North Carolina, Alabama, and Arkansas test the limits of the Voting Rights Act, the boundaries of state government authority, and the ability of voting rights groups to file racial gerrymandering cases. “These doctrines and approaches in these cases fundamentally reset the rules of the game,” she said. “In 2030 we will live in a completely different world than we lived in in 2020, and 2020 was not favorable to minority voters at all.”

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Robin Craig
March, 2022

"Saltwater Sovereignty: Tribal Marine Management Authority Along the Pacific Coast.” Online Environmental Law Workshop. University of Maryland School of Law, Baltimore, MD.

Daniel Klerman
March, 2022

“Comment on Choi, Erickson, & Pritchard, ‘Coalitions among Plaintiffs’ Attorneys in Securities Class Actions’,” Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Virtual, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Robin Craig
March, 2022

“Who’s on First? The Mind-Blowing Attempt to Conceptualize Deference in the Midst of Decision Delays and Agency Repeals,” J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium for the George Washington University School of Law, Virtual, Washington, D.C.