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Legal Aspects of Doing Business in North America - 2nd Edition - Loose leaf
Legal Aspects of Doing Business in North America - 2nd Edition - Electronic
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Federal Jurisdiction
District of Columbia
Patrick Jay Hines
Graubard, Moskovitz & McCauley
Washington, DC, United States
and
Carol Anne Smoots
Counsel, American Gas Association
Washington, DC, United States
Introduction
In the past few decades, the Washington, DC, area has expanded into a vibrant
internationalmarketplace. Part of the attraction is the direct access to the federal government
and its regulatory agencies. Other benefits include the highly educated workforce, superb
transportation and a growing international corporate, financial and legal community.
Private business nowsurpasses theUnited States government as the area’smajor employer.
Over two-thirds of the region’s workforce is employed by private service or trade enterprises.
1 The growth has been led by manufacturing, aerospace, defense, communications,
media, publishing, telecommunications, consulting, research and development, trade
associations, warehousing, distributions and engineering.
The fact thatWashington is the nation’s capital as well as a market center is equally important
for business. International business executives are able to meet and work with people
making decisions about foreign and domestic investment and international trade. This
type of liaison is essential to maintaining a healthy business climate in the United States
and abroad.
Washington’s support services for the international business community are unique and
unsurpassed. Aside from the government agencies, there are numerous organizations that
can be used as information and resource centers. For example, there is the World Bank,
the Export-Import Bank, the International Monetary Fund, embassies, universities, government
and private international organizations and research institutions.
In light of the unique form of government in the District of Columbia, this chapter begins
with an explanation of the structure and status of the government and courts of the nation’s
1 The Greater Washington Board of Trade, ‘The Case for Washington-lnternational’, at p
