James A. Baker IV

James A. Baker, IV is a partner in the corporate department of the Washington, D.C. office of Baker Botts. Since joining the Washington office of the firm in 1985, Mr. Baker has concentrated his practice in a variety of international commercial and trade related matters and commercial transactions.

Mr. Baker's transactional practice relates principally to matters in the energy, telecommunications, technology, and life sciences sectors of the economy and involves corporate compliance counseling and contract negotiation and documentation of investment vehicles, business combinations, divestitures and operations, licensing arrangements, and various forms of corporate and project finance. His client representations include both publicly traded and closely held companies, venture capital and private equity investment funds and partnerships, limited liability companies, and joint ventures, and he has advised clients in both inbound and outbound foreign investments. As a result of the diversity of his practice and client base, Mr. Baker ordinarily works closely with lawyers engaged in various specialized disciplines, including tax, environmental, labor and employment and intellectual property law.

In recent years, Mr. Baker's international representations include transactions in the Arabian peninsula, Central and East Asia, Europe, and Russia, many of which have involved negotiations between private concerns and government agencies or state enterprises. He has recently represented the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan Consortium in connection with its oil pipeline project, and East Mediterranean Gas S.A.E. in connection with that company's effort to construct a subsea natural gas pipeline to run from Egypt along the Mediterranean coastline to Turkey.

In addition to his transactional portfolio, Mr. Baker maintains an active practice in advising U.S. and foreign companies with respect to their compliance obligations under U.S. trade and transactional regulations. In this regard, his experience includes advice regarding export controls on sophisticated technology, country-specific economic sanctions, anti-boycott compliance, and counseling regarding the application of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the Foreign Agent Registration Act, etc.

Prior to joining Baker Botts, Mr. Baker served as counsel to the U.S. Senate Majority Leader from 1982 to 1985. In that capacity, his duties included advising the Majority Leader on legislative and policy matters, both parochially and in his capacity as Majority Leader. He was responsible for coordination and negotiations between and among the Senate leadership, Senate committees, federal agencies, and the House of Representatives leadership offices, and in conjunction with the Senate Legal Counsel, he advised on all legal matters that came before the Majority Leader's office.

Mr. Baker graduated from Cornell University (B.S. - Economics) in 1977 and from the University of Texas School of Law in 1981, where he was on the Editorial Board of The Texas International Law Journal. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the District of Columbia Bar Association, and the American Bar Association, in the latter of which he participates as a member of the Section of International Law and Practice and the Section on Taxation.