Erik O. Autor

Vice President,
International Trade Counsel

Erik Autor was named Vice President and International Trade Counsel in 1998. He serves as the principal advisor on international trade, customs, and supplier compliance issues to the NRF and its member companies, which include the leading department, specialty, discount, mass merchandise, Internet and independent stores.

From 1992 to 1998, Autor served first as International Trade Counsel and then as Senior International Trade Counsel on the Republican staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. His responsibilities covered international trade policy and legislation and he worked on major pieces of trade legislation including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Implementation Act, the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, and the Customs Modernization Act.

Autor was an international trade associate in the Washington office of the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom from 1990 to 1992. While at Skadden Arps, he worked on a variety of trade litigation matters involving the cement and steel industries before the federal courts and administrative agencies.

Autor was a law clerk to Judge Dominick DiCarlo at the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, which has jurisdiction over appeals in international trade and customs cases, from 1998 to 1990.

A graduate of Duke University Law School, Autor received a J.D. and LL.M. degree in foreign and international law in 1988. He was a member of the editorial staff of the Alaska Law Review and later served as Managing Editor. He graduated magna cum laude from UCLA in 1982 with an honors degree in European History, and received an M.Sc. degree in European Studies from the London School of Economics in 1984. He also studied at the Universität Regensburg in Germany.

Autor is admitted to practice law in California and the District of Columbia. He is married and has one child. He was born in Vancouver, Canada.