Corporate Counsel - International Trade and Customs Compliance

Job Description

Rare in-house counsel opportunity for an experienced international trade and customs attorney seeking new challenges and professional development in a dynamic interdisciplinary work environment. Counsel will be responsible for advising representing and managing the organization on all international trade law and policy issues matters and risks including customs compliance and enforcement. Counsel will lead key aspects of customs compliance in the United States Canada and Mexico.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist senior legal leadership in overseeing trade action budgets governance strategy and internal/external communications.

• Serve as subject matter expert on U.S. trade and customs law and policy.

• Brief and advise officials on trade and customs law and policy matters issues and risks.

• Represent the organizations interests before the federal government regarding trade and customs law and policy issues.

• Proactively anticipate issues and provide internal clients with timely and value-added counsel.

• Participate in committees and strategy groups for trade action budgets and executive briefings.

• Advise commercial procurement logistics and raw materials teams on customs compliance tariffs duties and fees across the U.S. Canada and Mexico (including coordination with local counsel).

• Manage strategy substance and budgets of outside counsel and advisors on trade and customs law and policy matters.

• Act as liaison on trade matters with outside counsel business and operational teams government officials and industry stakeholders.

• Prepare internal and external documents (e.g. memos presentations public comments white papers) on trade and customs matters.

• Review and evaluate trade action and customs compliance strategies submissions and budgets.

• Maintain trade action trackers data and matrices.

• Stay current with developments in international trade and customs law and assist internal clients with implementing policies and procedures accordingly.

Substantive Areas of Law

• Antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD): case assessments petitions investigations reviews appeals questionnaire responses enforcement and anti-circumvention proceedings.

• Customs compliance and enforcement: U.S. customs duties tariffs and import compliance; USMCA compliance (certifications rules of origin labor value content melt and pour etc.); Canadian surtax remission drawback; Mexican customs and certifications.

• Section 232 and IEEPA: defense enforcement negotiations litigation and compliance with national security trade laws.

• Section 301 and related import laws: negotiations policy advocacy and litigation.

• WTO disputes and trade policy issues.

Education Knowledge Skills and Abilities

Required:

• Juris Doctor and admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia or ability to transfer.

• Minimum 5 years of concentrated experience in international trade law policy and customs compliance especially in the areas noted above.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel Word PowerPoint Teams and Adobe.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment while meeting deadlines.

• Strong issue-spotting skills and ability to brief senior counsel on critical matters.

• Strategic thinking attention to detail and creative problem-solving.

• Strong research writing and presentation skills.

• Excellent verbal and written communication abilities across all levels of the organization and externally.

• Strong interpersonal skills with ability to build cooperative relationships and act as an authoritative advocate on trade issues.

Preferred:

• Prior experience with law firms in-house or U.S. federal government (e.g. CBP DOC ITC USTR or U.S. Court of International Trade).

• Experience managing outside counsel and project budgets.

• Familiarity with customs and trade databases (e.g. Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis ITC DataWeb or proprietary tools).

• Experience with trade associations or industry coalitions.

• Knowledge of accounting business economics or government affairs.

• Familiarity or interest in applying artificial intelligence tools to trade and customs work.