Introduction and overview

This introductory chapter outlines the development of the role of law and lawyers in the multilateral trading system from its birth in 1948 until today. It recounts the various ways that law and lawyers have been included (and sometimes excluded) first in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and then in the World Trade Organization (WTO) system. It traces the ways in which the GATT and WTO Secretariats have been structured and legal work has been distributed over time. It further seeks to uncover the various and complex historical processes and circumstances that have led the WTO to become one of the most important players in the development of international law and, according to many commentators, a prime example of the possibility and value of the international rule of law.