Miller Nash Graham & Dunn LLP partner Chris Helmer was recently appointed vice-chair of the Litigation Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA) for a two-year term. The Litigation Committee is one of the IBA’s largest and most active committees. Helmer previously served as the committee’s Treasurer and Newsletter Co-editor, reporting on litigation legal developments in countries all across the world. With a membership of over 80,000 individual lawyers spanning 160 countries, the IBA is the world’s leading organization of lawyers who do cross-border work and deal with international legal issues. The Litigation Committee focuses on the legal, practical, and procedural issues involved in conducting cross-border litigation or domestic litigation in foreign countries.
About Chris Helmer
Helmer does primarily international and maritime work, both litigation/arbitration and transactional. Her 35+ years of litigation and arbitration experience puts her in a unique position to assist clients in contract drafting and assessing contractual risks. As head of Miller Nash Graham & Dunn's International Team, she also assists clients by directing team members as they work on foreign-market entry for U.S. companies, drafting cross-border sales and foreign manufacturing agreements, preparing export/import compliance programs, resolving Customs issues, and handling FCPA investigations. Helmer earned her bachelor's degree in three years, magna cum laude, at Washington State University before receiving her law degree, cum laude, from Lewis & Clark Law School. She obtained an LL.M. in international law from Columbia University, while serving as part-time in-house counsel to a Daimler-Benz multi-national subsidiary.
