Theodore Kassinger is a partner in O’Melveny’s Washington, DC office and a member of the Integrated Legal Strategies Practice. Ted counsels US and foreign clients engaged in transnational business transactions, with an emphasis on international trade and investment regulatory matters. Calling on his more than 30 years of private practice and government experience, he also provides public affairs advocacy and strategic counseling advice involving a wide range of policy issues.

Ted joined the firm after serving as the Deputy Secretary (2004-2005) and General Counsel (2001-2004) of the US Department of Commerce. As Deputy Secretary, he was responsible for the day-to-day management of the Department's approximately $6.2 billion budget, 13 operating units, and 39,000 employees. The Department’s varied missions include promoting US exports, administering unfair trade laws, and negotiating and enforcing international trade agreements; serving as effective stewards of the nation’s ocean, coastal, and living marine resources; formulating technology and telecommunications policy and administering the federal radio frequency spectrum; administering the patent and trademark system; and developing and applying technologies, measurements, and standards. As the second-ranking Department official, Ted oversaw programmatic development and implementation of those missions and represented the Department in senior policymaking councils of the Administration and before Congress.

As General Counsel, Ted served as the Department’s chief legal and ethics officer. His responsibilities included determining legal positions taken by the Department in significant litigation, administrative, legislative, and policy matters; supervision of the Department’s ethics program; and management of the nearly 300 lawyers who advise and represent the Department on legal and ethics matters. Among other responsibilities, he co-chaired the Commercial Law Working Group of the United States -- China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade.

Upon the conclusion of his tenure at the Commerce Department, Ted received the Secretary of Commerce’s William C. Redfield Award, the Department’s highest honor.

From 1985 to 2001, Ted practiced law with another major international law firm, following earlier service as an attorney with the US Senate Committee on Finance, the U.S. Department of State, and the US International Trade Commission.

Ted is Chairman of the US Department of State's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He also serves as a member of the Board of Advisers to the Dean Rusk Center for International, Comparative, and Graduate Legal Studies.

Ted has been recognized by such publications as Chambers USA, Chambers Global, Euromoney, and Washingtonian as a leading practitioner in the areas of international trade and national security law.