Rachel Alpert

Guest Author

Rachel Alpert is a Partner at Jenner & Block, where she co-chairs the firm’s National Security, Sanctions, and Export Controls Practice and the Human Rights and Global Strategy Practice. She counsels domestic and international clients on a range of issues, including export controls and sanctions compliance, business and human rights, supply chain accountability, and national security reviews by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Rachel previously served for seven years as an Attorney-Adviser in the US Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser, working most recently on legal issues affecting US relations with Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. As lead attorney for Cuba matters at the State Department, Rachel advised on Cuba-related issues from the re-establishment of US diplomatic relations with Cuba in 2015 through the 2019 end of the suspension of Title III of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act (LIBERTAD) of 1996. At the State Department, Rachel also advised on the implementation of approximately $2 billion in US foreign assistance resources to prevent trafficking in persons and end modern slavery, combat transnational crime, promote democracy, and provide urgent humanitarian assistance throughout the world.

Rachel holds a JD from Harvard Law School, an MA in Middle Eastern History from Tel Aviv University, and a BA in International Studies and Political Science from Yale University. She has taught International Law as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law School and spent a year in Damascus, Syria as a Frederick Sheldon Fellow, researching and writing about the Syrian legal framework for the international response to the Iraqi refugee crisis. She is also on LinkedIn.