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TEQUILA BROOKS, International and Comparative Labor Law Scholar

Tequila Brooks is an International and Comparative Labor Law Scholar in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. She blogs for A Little Bit of Lime, IntLawGrrls, the American Bar Association's International Employment Lawyer and The Huffington Post.  She has extensive experience in practicing, writing, presenting, teaching, and consulting in the area of international and comparative labor & employment law and policy. She spent 5 1/2 years serving as Labor Law Advisor with the North American Commission for Labor Cooperation and is co-author of NAFTA and NAALC: Twenty-Five Years of Trade-Labour Linkage Second Edition (Wolters Kluwer, 2019). She is fluent in Spanish and proficient in French. Ms. Brooks received her J.D. and M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1997 and her B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland in 1991. She received a Master's of Law degree in International and European Labour and Social Security Law from Tilburg University Law School in Tilburg, Netherlands in 2012 and a Master's of Law degree. in International and Comparative Law from the George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC in 2010. Ms. Brooks is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Law as an External Researcher at Tilburg University.  Her dissertation focuses on Working Women and International Trade.  She serves as Membership Secretary on the Board of the DC Chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association.

SSRN:  http://ssrn.com/author=1519719

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0363-8096

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BIOGRAPHY OF TEQUILA BROOKS

Tequila began her career representing low wage workers in workers’ compensation, unemployment and family law cases in New Mexico.  She served as Labor Law Advisor with the North American Commission for Labor Cooperation Secretariat, an inter-governmental organization created under the NAFTA labor side agreement for five and a half years. While with the CLC, Tequila co-authored a study comparing the laws impacting migrant agricultural workers in Canada, Mexico and the United States, was primary author and project coordinator of a tri-national clear language guide to labor and employment laws for migrant workers in North America and drafted Canadian and U.S. chapters of a study comparing employment discrimination and equal pay laws in North America. She also conducted and supervised research in the area of workers’ compensation and occupational safety and health laws in North America, and organized or co-organized specialized focus groups and meetings on migrant worker issues, comparative workplace discrimination and equal pay law, women workers’ issues and special issues involving women workers and long-term disabilities.

Tequila is a strong advocate for lifelong education. She has an LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from  George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC, Her thesis was a comparison of several non-governmental and inter-governmental mechanisms utilized in response to suppression of workers and trade union rights in the State of Puebla, Mexico. She also has an LL.M. in International and European Labour Law from Tilburg University School of Law in Tilburg, Netherlands.  Her thesis assessed the efficacy of European policies in improving the working lives of racial and ethnic minorities in the European Union.  

 

Tequila holds a Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate from Georgetown University’s Center for Public and Non-Profit Leadership (2006), attended the Society for Human Resource Management’s course in Global Human Resources Management (2007) and spent summers studying International Human Rights Law in Oxford, England, Comparative European Union Law at the University of Paris X as part of Golden Gate University’s Paris Summer Law Program and Mexican Law at the University of Guanajuato in Mexico. In 2002, she attended the Center for Creative Leadership’s Women’s Leadership course in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Tequila’s publications include NAFTA and the NAALC: Twenty-Five Years of North American Trade - Labour Linkage (co-authored with Lance Compa, 2019), “An Introduction to Mexican Workers’ Compensation Law for the U.S. Workers’ Compensation Practitioner” (IAIABC Journal, Fall 2003) and “Cross-Border Workers’ Compensation and Social Security Policy in North America: An Analysis of the NAFTA Trucking Dispute through the eyes of a Workers’ Compensation Practitioner” (IAIABC Journal, Spring 2005). She has lectured frequently on international labor rights and trade law, including teaching a short course on U.S., Canadian and North American Labor Law to lawyers at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa Law School in Culiacán, Mexico and at the University of Guanajuato School of Law in Guanajuato, Mexico.

TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS

Can Human and Labor Rights Commitments in EU Preferential Trade Arrangements Be Used to Eliminate Sexual Harassment of Women Farm Laborers in Agriculture in Kenya, Morocco, and Italy? Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) 2022 Annual Conference, University of Toronto (Virtual), January 7 - 9, 2022.

Rule of Law, Access to Justice, and Three Labor Petitions Filed Under the CAFTA-DR, 15th Annual Colloquium on Scholarship in Employment and Labor Law (COSELL XV),   University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, Louisville, Kentucky (Virtual), October 8-10, 2020.

Intersections between the Worlds of Work and War: The ILO and Sustainable Peace Building in the 21st Century, 14th Annual Colloquium on Scholarship in Employment and Labor Law (COSELL XIV),  UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 10-12, 2019.

Free Trade Agreements, Labor Standards and Women's Rights, GVISOR Knowledge Workshop, Arthur J. Gallagher, Washington, DC, March 14, 2019.

ILO Conventions 111 and 100 in Central America and Mexico: An assessment of the
jurisprudence of the ILO Committee of Experts, Labour Law Research Network 3rd Conference
(LLRN3)
, University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Toronto, Ontario, June 25-27, 2017.


Sexism and Gender Stereotypes in International Guest Worker Programs: An Analysis of Two
2016 Petitions under the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation, IntLawGrrls! 10th
Birthday Conference
, University of Georgia School of Law, Athens, Georgia, March 2-3, 2017.


Labor in Free Trade Agreements: From NAFTA and NAALC to the Trans-Pacific Partnership,
Guest Lecture, University of New Mexico School of Law Semester in DC Program, Washington, DC,
October 19, 2016.


Labor provisions and workers' rights for women and children: the role of evolving standards
and jurisprudence under Canadian and US FTAs, ILO Conference on Worker Rights in a
Globalized World
, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 8, 2014.


Labor issues under NAFTA and CAFTA, Guest Lecture, Suffolk University Law School (via Skype),
Washington, DC, April 5, 2011.


Labor issues in the NAFTA and EU regions, Guest Lecture, University of Houston Law Center (via
Skype), Tilburg, Netherlands, April 20, 2010.


Immigrant Worker Issues in Workers’ Compensation, ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law
Workers’ Compensation Committee Midwinter Meeting, Santa Barbara, California, March 8, 2006.


Course on U.S. Labor and Employment Law for Mexican Labor Attorneys (in Spanish),
Autonomous University of Sinaloa Law School, Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, December 2005.


Cross-Border Workers Compensation Issues in the U.S. and Mexico, ABA Section of Labor and
Employment Law Section Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, August 8, 2005.


Course on U.S. and Canadian Employment Law (in Spanish), University of Guanajuato Law
School, Guanajuato, Mexico, December 2001.

Home: e-Discovery

PAPERS AND PUBLICATIONS

Brooks, T.J., World Bank Inspection Panel Recommends Investigation of Harm Caused by the Nachtigal Hydropower Project in Cameroon, International Labor Rights Case Law, 9(1), 127-133. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/24056901-09010021 (2023)

Brooks, T.J., "Enforcement of labor standards in trade agreements: the case of Guatemala," Handbook on Globalisation and Labour Standards, pp. 314-325 (2022).

Brooks, T.J., German NCP Releases Final Report under OECD Guidelines on Failure of Adidas to Mitigate Human Rights Effects of Subcontractor Actions in Indonesia. International Labor Rights Case Law, 7(1), 24-30. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/24056901-07010005 (2021).

Brooks, T.J., COVID-19 and Labour Law: Panama. Italian Labour Law e-Journal, [S.l.], v. 13, n. 1S (2020).

Compa, L. and Brooks, T.J., NAFTA, NAALC, and Labor Provisions in North American Free Trade Agreements, International Encyclopaedia of Laws, Vol. 477 (2019)

Brooks,T.J., Sexism and Gender Stereotyping in International Guest Worker Programs:  An analysis of two 2016 petitions filed under the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation22 Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal 97 (2018)

Brooks, T.J., U.S.-Guatemala Arbitration Panel Clarifies Effective Enforcement Under Labor
Provisions of Free Trade Agreement
, 4 International Labor Rights Case Law, pp. 45-51 (2018)

Brooks, T.J., Undefined Rights:  The challenge of using evolving labor standards in U.S. and Canadian Free Trade Agreements to improve working women’s lives39 Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal 29 (2017)

Brooks, T.J., ILO Conventions 111 and 100 in Central America and Mexico: An assessment of the jurisprudence of the ILO Committee of Experts (2017)


Brooks, T.J., A Critical Assessment: Can Export Processing Zones Be Transformed into Catalytic Enclaves for Women's Economic Empowerment? (2016)

ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center. UN Women E-discussion: “Make Financial Markets Work for Women” (2014, Brooks pp. 3-5)

ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center. UN Women E-discussion: Enabling Environment and Legal Incentives for Women's Employment (2014, Brooks pp. 3-6)

Brooks, T.J., A critical analysis of EU interventions into elimination of racial discrimination and improvement of labor market outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities in EU member states Short Version, paper for delivery at ILERA Amsterdam (2013)

Brooks, T.J., The effectiveness of European Union interventions into the elimination of racial discrimination and improvement of labor market outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities in European Member States Full Version (2012)

Brooks, T.J., Can Frontex Be Held Liable for Human Rights Violations? Potential Application of Recent European Case Law to the Activities of an Inter-Governmental Agency (2012)

Brooks, T.J., The ILO Committee of Experts and the Guatemala Cement Mining Case (2010) 

Brooks, T.J., Four Key Trade Union Movements in Puebla Mexico Short Version (2010)

Brooks, T.J., Four Key Trade Union Movements in Puebla, Mexico 2001 2008 Full Version (2010) 

Brooks, T.J., Prospects and Alternatives for Decent Employment in NAFTA Region (2008) 

Brooks, T.J., Negotiation of the Chiquita-COLSIBA IFA (2007) 

Brooks, T.J., World of Work and Rule of Law in Post-Conflict Societies (2007) 

Brooks, T.J., Social Security Options for Mexican Immigrants in the United States (2006) 

Brooks, T.J., NAFTA Trucking and Workers' Compensation (2006) 

Brooks, T.J., Workers' Compensation Law in Mexico (2003)

Further documentation, including Professional References and Curriculum Vitae, will be made promptly available to those interested parties who make request through Tequila Brooks' Contact page.

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