Ag's attorney: Gillon's expertise mixes farming, trade

By Jane Roberts

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September 9, 2004

A cotton farmer's son from Gore Springs, Miss., is steeling himself for long days and nights as the United States appeals Brazil's case against U.S. cotton subsidies.

Bill Gillon, attorney for the National Cotton Council, bounced between Geneva and Washington as the case heated up, defending the interests of U.S. cotton and the childhood friends who grew it against allegations from producers halfway across the globe.

"Our role was to help in any way we could, with information about cotton -- economic and legal -- to help them work through their arguments," said Gillon, 45.

Gillon, the only outside legal counsel on a team of attorneys from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Trade Representative's office, also often was the one in the room who knew the most about cotton.

"A lot of my interest in agriculture certainly comes from my childhood. My dad was a cotton producer, and the people I grew up with were cotton producers. I think about that community and rural America often in my work," said Gillon, attorney with Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada.

This is the second time Gillon has defended U.S. cotton against a Brazilian challenge. In the mid-1990s, he helped win a countervailing duty case in Brazil in a career in agriculture and interntional trade that started in the 1980s when Gillon was on the staff of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee.

"Bill Gillon knows a great deal about cotton," said Mark Keenum, chief of staff in U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's office. "He was a very hard-working, distinguished member of Senate Agricultural, Nutrition and Forestry staff."

Keenum said Gillon was instrumental in creating the 1990 Farm Bill, which was a important bill for American agriculture and the cotton industry. "He was helpful on the 1996 Farm Bill and also the 2002 Farm Bill," Keenum said.

Gillon was also present when the final North American Free Trade Agreement textile negotiations were completed. He was in Seattle when rioters disrupted the start of what was to become the Doha Round of negotiations. "And I was in Cancun last September when the world turned on the U.S. cotton program," he said.

Since then, he's divided his time between Memphis and Washington, working far past quitting time to defend the interests of U.S. cotton. "From my first job at the Department of Agriculture through today, I have been able to combine my background in agriculture with my interest in international trade in a meaningful way," Gillon said.

"I am fortunate Butler Snow appreciates the importance of agriculture to this region's economy and is able to give me support I need to engage in a Memphis-Washington-Geneva law practice, which is truly international in scope."

The challenges in the Brazil case, Gillon said, have been personal and intense. "We have had to battle not only with Brazil, but international organizations with a proclivity to wage their fight in the press," he said.

Across the table, fighting for Brazil, was a colleague Gillon knew from the Department of Agriculture, who changed sides. "The fact that the former assistant secretary of economics was doing that troubled me," Gillon said. "That level of expertise means Brazil has a very strong case.

"It's not done yet," Gillon said Wednesday. "We'll be working very hard on the appeal in the next few months."

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Bill Gillon

Job: Legal counsel for the National Cotton Council

Age: 45

Education: University of Georgia Law School, 1983; Mississippi State University, 1980.

Home: Germantown

Family: Wife, Adrienne Pakis-Gillon; and two children.

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-- Jane Roberts: 529-2512