Richard Rivers; International Trade Mediator, Lobbyist
Washington Post Staff WriterTuesday, May 9, 2006; Page B06
Richard Robinson Rivers, 63, who over three decades as a lawyer and lobbyist was involved in most of the major U.S.-international trade legislation and negotiations, died April 30 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He had leukemia.
In a lengthy career that traversed trade and politics, Mr. Rivers served as a staff member of the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Russell B. Long (D-La.). He also was general counsel of the Office of the Special Trade Representative during the Carter administration and a private lawyer.
As international trade counsel for the Senate Finance Committee from 1973 to 1977, he drafted the legislation that was known as "fast track" and involved special rules for consideration of international trade agreements by the Senate and House of Representatives.
Generally, the president, through the U.S. trade representative, negotiates trade agreements with foreign governments that then require approval of amendments of existing law by Congress. The fast track rule requires that the trade agreements be voted on by the House and the Senate without amendment to the agreement.
In 1995, Mr. Rivers urged a congressional subcommittee to renew the fast track provision. He also stressed that the rule not be burdened with side agreements regarding environmental or labor issues.
"Fast track is an arrangement between the legislative and executive branch," he stated. "Both branches recognize that well-crafted trade agreements are in the best interest of the United States. But also recognize that if Congress maintains the option to amend agreements piecemeal during the approval process, then countries negotiating with the United States will fear that any deals reached will later be reopened."
From 1977 to 1979, Mr. Rivers worked with Special Trade Representative Robert Strauss. Mr. Rivers assisted in negotiations for the so-called "Tokyo Round" trade agreement with the member countries of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
Afterward, he joined the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and became the head of the international law practice section. A 1986 article in the National Journal described Mr. Rivers as a lawyer-lobbyist who was bringing a different perspective to viewing trade issues.
Mr. Rivers was "a leader of the new breed of entrepreneurial trade lawyers," the article stated. "They see a trade problem and mobilize clients, the trade policy establishment and ultimately the bureaucracy to solve the problem."
Mr. Rivers, a Washington resident, retired in 1996.
He was a native of Dallas and a graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans. He received a law degree from Catholic University in 1974 and a master's degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University in 2003.
When he moved to Washington in 1968, he worked as press secretary to Rep. Hale Boggs (D-La.) in the office of the House majority whip (1968-70) and in the office of the House majority leader (1970-72). Boggs died in a plane crash in Alaska in October 1972. The plane was never found.
Mr. Rivers was a director or trustee of several nonprofit organizations, including the American Indian College Fund, the School for Field Studies, the NAFTA Institute and the Cordell Hull Institute. He was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar Association and the Metropolitan Club.
He was a lifelong photographer, traveler, writer and reader of history.
His marriage to Carey Rivenbark Rivers ended in divorce.
Survivors include two children, Laura Ellen Rivers of Santa Monica, Calif., and Jonathan Stewart Rivers of Washington; and his companion, Aneta Owens of Washington.