The WorldECR Awards 2021

PRACTITIONER OF THE YEAR

Winner: Barbara Linney, BakerHostetler

Since joining BakerHostetler in early 2019, Barbara Linney has built a diverse team of dedicated sector specialists with the ability to provide value to clients across the full range of export and sanctions matters. Under Barbara’s leadership, the team has developed a collaborative culture that enables it to work seamlessly with specialists in other practice areas, including white collar, M&A, intellectual property, cybersecurity and government contracts, to ensure the best possible representation of clients. Strong leadership skills and commitment to clients and the trade compliance community make Barbara a worthy winner of this award.

Barbara’s international practice incorporates complex export controls work, economic sanctions matters, foreign investment review and national security. Her clients come from a wide range of industries, notably defence, aerospace, oil and gas, maritime, technology and medical device manufacturers. Licensed to practise law in three countries (USA, Canada and the UK), Barbara often handles cross-border regulatory matters.

Her commitment to the international trade and national security community extends beyond her legal practice. She is a past president and the current pro bono general counsel of the Association of Women in International Trade (WIIT) and the WIIT Charitable Trust. She also serves as pro bono general counsel of Women in Federal Law Enforcement (WIFLE) and the WIFLE Foundation. In addition, Barbara is a Co-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law, National Security Committee.

A full and international workload is the order of the day. One recent engagement saw Barbara lead the firm’s representation of a multinational designer and manufacturer of microelectronics in a multi-year internal review of compliance with export controls, filing several supplements to voluntary disclosures before three export control agencies, and guiding the client’s efforts to identify past violations and implement corrective actions. Barbara and her team led the client through review and correction of export classifications of hundreds of parts and related technology and their recommendations regarding corrective actions resulted in substantial improvements to the company’s automated export compliance systems. Notwithstanding a high number of potential violations, the team secured No Action letters from the DDTC and the Census Bureau in connection with two of the disclosures. Just one of many satisfied clients. Congratulations, Barbara!

Runner-up: Nabeel Yousef, Freshfields

Nabeel Yousef is a partner in the DC office of Freshfields where he leads the firm’s sanctions and export control practice. In the four years since Nabeel joined Freshfields’ Washington office, he has transformed its sanctions and trade practice and led the rapid growth of this group, which now represents multinational clients on their most mission-critical matters. Though just four years old, his practice now competes, and takes work from, established US firms. 

Within the firm, Nabeel is cultivating a class of associates who are developing leading-edge sanctions and export control knowledge, providing them with critical insight into how to grow and maintain relationships with key regulators. 

Nabeel is also a staunch advocate for diversity. He takes the time to mentor diverse associates and advocates for their advancement within the firm. 

Nabeel is on the advisory board for, and provides pro bono legal advice to, the Covid-19 Ventilator Project. The Project started as a non-profit company to design, test, and deliver emergency ventilators during the pandemic. In a short time, it has produced a prototype, started validation testing, and garnered support from major international corporations, as well as state and federal officials.

This increasingly busy international sanctions and export control practice services clients from around the world. Two examples are advising British Telecom on export controls and trade matters, particularly in connection with the US Commerce Department’s Entity List restrictions on Huawei, and giving advice to a syndicate of 22 global financial institutions and three export credit agencies on US and EU sanctions and export controls issues relating to the US$13 billion project financing of the Amur Gas Processing Plant, the largest gas processing plant in Russia and one of the biggest in the world.

In a short space, Yousef has put the Freshfields’ DC team very firmly on the map.

Honourable Mentions

Guy Martin, Carter-Ruck

Guy Martin spearheads UK law firm Carter-Ruck’s International Law practice. He has specific expertise in the law relating to economic sanctions, and his work is at the forefront of the field of challenges to asset-freezing measures or ‘targeted sanctions’. He has acted in some of the most high-profile sanctions matters in recent years, including for the late Hosni Mubarak and his family and for Saudi businessman and philanthropist Sheikh Yassin Kadi Abdullah Kadi.

The eight-year legal battle concerning the widely publicised and landmark sanctions cases of the late former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his family related to EU restrictive measures imposed upon them in 2011 in the wake of the Arab Spring. In autumn 2018 a judgment from the General Court on sanctions designations in 2016, 2017 and 2018 went against the Mubaraks. Guy and his team subsequently filed two powerful and high-profile appeals to the highest court in the European Union, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). These appeals raised significant and novel legal issues relating to International Human rights law (IHRL) and EU law. The CJEU in December 2020 annulled the sanctions, ruling that they were unlawful from the outset; and following petition from Carter-Ruck, Hosni Mubarak and his family were later removed from the EU’s and the UK’s sanctions lists. He continues to lead the team in ongoing proceedings for the annulment of further sanctions imposed on various members of the Mubarak family by the EU Council.

Suresh Joseph, Edge Group

Suresh Joseph, an international trade management professional with 17 years’ experience in export control, sanctions, and best practices in business, is Senior Manager – Trade Compliance at EDGE Group. EDGE is a conglomerate of 25 entities with a revenue of over $5 billion and 12,000 employees, established in the United Arab Emirates to build and develop capabilities in autonomous systems, defence equipment, communications and technology development and provide maintenance repair and overhaul services for military aircraft of the UAE Armed Forces. EDGE Group companies use defence products, technology and services from US, Canada, UK and EU countries – the export compliance issues are many in this role and Suresh’s achievements are impressive.

In just two years, he has successfully established a trade compliance program for EDGE, conducted customised training programmes for employees (nearly 700+ employees attended the sessions directly and via MS Teams), performed investigations in support of a disclosure, and launched a corporate-level trade compliance policy.

With strategic as well as organisational responsibilities – developing strategies for trade compliance risk management for EDGE assets, reviewing and identifying EDGE Group companies’ compliance obligations, conducting assessments and audits on the effectiveness of the compliance programme and reporting the findings to EDGE leadership – Suresh provides the foundations for his organisation’s manifold compliance efforts.

Aleksandar Dukic, Hogan Lovells 

Aleksandar Dukic is a partner at law firm Hogan Lovells. He has long been providing practical, industry-specific advice on how to navigate complex US regulations to ensure compliance with Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions, US export controls, immigration, and USA Patriot Act anti-money laundering obligations. 

His practice and client base are truly international. He has represented more than 35 companies in the context of their proposed initial public offerings of shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE). Here, he assessed the applicability of US, EU, UN, and Australian economic sanctions and export controls to the clients’ business in response to Hong Kong regulators’ questions and prospectus comments regarding these laws.

Among matters not deemed confidential, he provides ongoing export control and global sanctions compliance advice to Aldevron, LLC, a biological science company that develops and manufactures genetic elements, and advises Valeo, a France-based international automotive parts supplier, on the full range of export control issues relating to its worldwide business operation, products, and technology. His representation includes reviewing Valeo’s portfolio products and technologies to assess the export control implications under export control laws and regulations for Valeo’s export and import activities.

Other matters that add to a busy practice include counselling universities on US export controls requirements for research institutions, and global financial institutions and (re)insurers on transaction-specific assessment of US sanctions issues under a variety of OFAC programmes.

YOUNG PRACTITIONER OF THE YEAR

Winner: Lana Muranovic, BakerHostetler

The award for WorldECR’s Young Practitioner of 2021 goes to Lana Muranovic, a partner in the International Trade and National Security Practice and co-leader of BakerHostetler’s Aerospace and Defense Industry team.

Lana, a first-generation refugee from Bosnia and Herzegovina, is praised by her peers as an ambitious self-starter attorney, motivated by a desire to help clients succeed and other attorneys to perform at their best, and as a voice and role model for women and working mothers at the firm. Lana serves as a member of the Houston office’s Diversity Group and its Lateral Hiring Committee, and is an integral member of and mentor in the firm’s Women’s Committee. She is also deeply involved in the Houston office’s summer associate recruiting efforts, having represented the firm at on-campus interviews for various consecutive years.

Clients trust Lana to navigate complex regulations, keep on top of trade-related developments, and ultimately deliver savvy yet concrete and pragmatic counsel. It is for these reasons that Lana was recently elected to partner status at BakerHostetler on a fast-track basis, and soon thereafter elevated to become co-leader of the firm’s Aerospace and Defence Industry team.

Among her clients is a US developer of rocket-powered landing systems for space missions. The engagement involves complex national security, technology, and export compliance issues and is critical to the success of future space missions. She also represents an international asset-management firm that seeks to invest in space and satellite technology sectors. This firm retained BakerHostetler – and specifically, Lana – to assist it in navigating complex regulatory schemes while doing business in the United States and other countries.

Closer to earth and home, Lana leads a team advising a Fortune 500 company that provides infrastructure services for the electric power, pipeline, industrial, and communications industries. Specifically, the team assists the company on compliance with the full range of US export controls and sanctions laws and regulations, including with respect to various licence applications, commodity classification requests, and deemed export matters.

WorldECR congratulates Lana on her achievements at work and in winning this award.

Runner-up: Coral Garcia Guadix, Repsol

Coral Garcia Guadix is Senior Legal Counsel International Trade Sanctions at international oil company, Repsol’s Madrid office. She joined the company in 2018 from the Brussels office of law firm King & Wood Mallesons. 

Working in an industry that is among those most directly and regularly affected by sanctions, Coral

• Provides high-level advice on application of US policies and laws to non-US entities and operations, particularly with respect to secondary sanctions exposure and associated risks;
• Counsels, coordinates and manages the company’s activities in countries including Venezuela, the US, Libya, Norway, United Kingdom, and Russia on sanctions and export control considerations; 
• Manages sanctions compliance risks for a trading department engaged in a high volume of trades with counterparties in every major region of the world;
• Leads and responds to sanctions regulatory due diligence reviews in major multinational M&A transactions;
• Negotiates sanctions compliance and related contract provisions in high-value, cross-border investment transactions; and
• Advises the company’s TechLab on export control compliance, licensing and enforcement matters.

Proactive and enjoying a wide remit, Coral played a key role in developing the company’s ‘Compliance Integral Model’, which establishes the governance structure and general operation of the group’s compliance framework to prevent, detect and respond to potential compliance risks. It covers anti-corruption, competition, prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, criminal prevention, privacy and data protection and international sanctions and trade controls.

Patricia Alcol and María Díaz Aldao (Senior Managers, Legal Compliance and Criminal Defence) at Repsol attest to Coral’s commitment to, and abilities, in the role: ‘Coral attacks the new breed of overlapping global trade regimes through a comprehensive approach, showing an entrepreneurial attitude, driving improvement and change, and anticipating solutions with a long-term vision.’

Honourable Mentions

Matthew Rabinowitz, Pillsbury 

Based in Pillsbury’s DC, office, Matt Rabinowitz advises US and international companies across multiple industries on compliance with import/export regulations, anti-corruption laws, and OFAC sanctions. He also assists US sellers and foreign buyers in obtaining clearances from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), with a particular focus on China-related transactions. Indeed, at a young age he has become Pillsbury’s ‘go-to’ resource for CFIUS matters. 

Recent matters for Matt have included representing multiple China-based companies added to the BIS Entity List. For each of these, Matt has provided counsel on export control compliance matters, including advising on the company’s Entity List designation, conducting EAR classifications of its products and third-party products, preparing and submitting notifications to BIS, and preparing and submitting encryption self-classification reports for mass market exclusion. 

‘Clients are consistently impressed with Matt’s ability to navigate the complex and interconnected regulations applicable to their transactions. Matt really understands the intricacies of these deals and makes the advice seamless for clients,’ reports Pillsbury’s Public Practices leader, Nancy Fischer. 

Konstantin Bureiko, Debevoise & Plimpton

A key contributor to the success of Debevoise’s European sanctions practice in recent years, Konstantin ‘Kosta’ Bureiko has established a reputation with major international clients as a sanctions expert, able to blend in-depth technical knowledge with commercial nous. 

‘His keen insight and professional demeanour has been an asset to me as I work through complex legal issues,’ says Jaime A. Edwards, Vice President & Senior Counsel, American Express Company.

‘The practical advice on trade and economic sanctions provided by Konstantin is always of high quality and great value for the practical application,’ affirms Béla Pataki, Lead Advisor, Group Sanctions Compliance, OTP Bank Plc.

A full work calendar has seen Kosta advise on EU and UK sanctions considerations arising from a number of major Russia-based oil and gas projects for an Asia-headquartered international conglomerate; undertake a comprehensive post-acquisition sanctions and anti-corruption compliance review of a UK-headquartered insurance management services company for its new US-based majority shareholders; and advise international insurance companies on EU sanctions risks relating to high-value acquisitions of an asset management company… among many others.

Devin Sefton, Braumiller Law Group

Devin Sefton is a senior associate in the Detroit office of Braumiller Law Group, PLLC, of Dallas, Texas. Commenting on her colleague, name partner Adrienne Braumiller says, ‘Devin’s strength is that his area of expertise encompasses not only sanctions and export controls, but also areas of law that impact sanctions and export compliance, including customs, national security, and anti-corruption laws. Additionally, a key strength is in advising cutting-edge and emerging industries, including in areas such as telecommunications, software, and robotics.’ 

Based out of the firm’s Chicago office, Devin has developed an international client base across various industry sectors. He has advised individual cruise operators and a cruise liner association on changing Cuba sanctions; ocean carriers, medical suppliers, and telecommunications providers on changes to Iran sanctions, including on secondary sanctions matters; and a major financial institutions and insurers on developing global sanctions compliance programmes and implementing transactional screening procedures, among others. 

A star with an eye to the future, he has assisted companies from emerging tech industries, including geospatial software and robotics and on-demand additive manufacturing companies in developing trade controls.

EXPORT CONTROLS LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR – USA

Winner: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld

With a cast of exceptional legal talent – think Kevin Wolf, Nnedi Ifudu Nweke and Tom McCarthy to name but three of a 40+ practice group – the DC-based US export controls team at Akin Gump is a true market leader. 

Along with a full workload advising an international client base, the team impresses with innovation in client services. Recent offerings include developing a military end-user (MEU) software tool which enables ‘lawyers to run a series of large-scale public source searches targeted towards Chinese MEUs, compiles relevant information for review and assessment, and enables consistent recordkeeping to comply with U.S. trade restrictions against certain transactions involving MEUs in China’. A second tool, ‘Overruled’, enables users to access ‘[US] government agency data to assess risks for sanctions and export controls [and features] (1) a penalty calculator that provides base penalty calculations, based on whether violations are egregious and voluntarily disclosed; (2) a searchable database of enforcement actions, searchable across industry, country, regulatory regime and many other factors; (3) a risk index heat map that provides country-by-country risk-ratings based specifically on export controls and, separately, sanctions risks; and (4) a searchable database of guidance and FAQs issued by OFAC and BIS.’ 

Noteworthy instructions in the past 18 months include acting ‘on behalf of a Chinese high-tech company that was listed on a draft of potentially prohibited parties under the MEU rules. Following a detailed submission – prepared under an extremely tight deadline – explaining to Commerce that the potential designation was legally incorrect and should not be made, our client was one of a small number of companies not designated on the list when it was announced in December 2020’. Another, of many, was advice to ‘a multinational semiconductor company on complex issues involving national security export controls pertaining to radiation-hardened semiconductors allowing for large amounts of sales to the U.S. government and others.’

A worthy winner, always pushing forward.

Runner-up: Hogan Lovells

The International Trade and Investment Export Controls practice at Hogan Lovells is forever at the forefront of cutting-edge export control issues – the team won this award in 2018. The team combines experienced private practitioners with former government officials to deliver a broad scope of service to household name clients around the world. Well-known and regarded team members include Stephen Propst, Ajay Kuntamukkala and Beth Peters. 

The team is client needs-focused and innovative: the ‘China Trade and Security’ updater provides website visitors/clients with news and insight into developing trade controls with China. 

Recent highlights include 

• Advising Facebook on trade compliance due diligence in connection with its US$5.7 million investment in Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of Indian multinational, Reliance Industries.
• Advising FLIR Systems Inc., a leading industrial technology company focused on intelligent sensing solutions for defence and industrial applications, on export control matters related to its agreements to be acquired by Teledyne Technologies Incorporated, in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately US$8bn.
• Assisting Columbia University in successfully obtaining export licences critical to a project that looks at the sea’s influential role in regulating the entire planet’s climate. Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is engaged in groundbreaking research in the ocean and required export-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles for the research voyages.

Honourable Mentions

BakerHostetler and Morgan Lewis boast leading practitioners and impressive experience. Barbara Linney at the former and Giovanna Cinelli at the latter, are doyennes of export controls.

At BakerHostetler, recent highlights include representing a designer and manufacturer of micro-electronics in reviewing compliance with export controls. The team ‘guided the client through review and correction of export classifications of hundreds of parts and related technology and completed and filed disclosures with DDTC, BIS, and the Census Bureau, securing “no-action letters” in the disclosures that have been closed out to date, notwithstanding a high volume of potential violations.’

Among Morgan Lewis’s recent workbook, the team advised on ‘a complex, cross-border investigation into export violations related to sensitive US technology for semiconductors. The investigation uncovered a range of long-standing violations with possible liability of tens of millions of dollars. After an eight-month investigation, our disclosure report and engagement with the agency convinced Commerce that the client’s actions did not merit either a criminal referral or a full enforcement action.’

EXPORT CONTROLS LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR – EUROPE

Winner: BenninkAmar

Amsterdam-based BenninkAmar is 2021 Export Controls Law Firm of the year for Europe. Congratulations to its founders Sebastiaan Bennink and past Young Practitioner of the Year award winner, Yvo Amar. The firm is dedicated to trade and financial sanctions, export controls and trade law matters, such as anti-corruption and anti-money laundering. Staying independent, it has established an international network of experts and peer law firms to provide clients with comprehensive advice on multi-jurisdictional matters. Its client base is diverse, including numerous publicly listed multinationals, operating in multiple industries and across the US, EMEA, Africa and Asia.

One recent highlight saw the firm successfully represent a technology company in legal proceedings on licence applications for exports to China. Asked to assess whether EUV equipment, formerly exported by the client to South Korea, could be re-exported to China, and whether the client would be allowed to provide maintenance services and instructions to the Chinese end-user, this was a politically highly sensitive matter, discussed in news articles worldwide and with the Dutch Parliament becoming involved. The team successfully assisted the client in negotiations with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, preparing documentation for review by the Ministry, conducting classification of the goods and screenings of the entities involved, providing legal opinions assessing all applicable export legislation. 

Another example instruction involved advising a global logistics provider on the application of, and compliance with, EU, US and Chinese trade laws.

Congratulations to a very impressive niche outfit.

Runner-up: Baker McKenzie

Baker McKenzie is a serial star performer in this category. The firm received this award in both 2016 and 2018. This year, Baker McKenzie’s innovative and impressive COVID PIER tool, managed out of the European offices, earns serious praise. 

Launched in June 2020, COVID PIER provides an easy-to-access reference to global trade controls on personal protective equipment and other products. The tool features information on import and export measures in response to the pandemic; leverages the global strength of the firm in delivering real-time guidance to companies’ crisis response and recovery strategies; and enables the firm’s trade compliance teams working across jurisdictions to provide immediate import/export advice with respect to clients’ pandemic response and humanitarian efforts. 

Clients have been positive about its value. One of the firm’s healthcare clients, a Fortune 100 company, found the tool of such use, it included a link to the tool from the internal company website as a go-to resource for its in-house trade compliance practitioners across the globe to utilise. COVID PIER has also impressed regulators and policy makers and in August 2020 led the US International Trade Commission to approach the firm for a joint webinar featuring the tool as part of a wider supply chain discussion. A superb law firm initiative.

Honourable mentions

Bakers Botts’ European export control team is led by Chris Caulfield in London and Brian Byrne in Brussels. The team advises on all aspects of EU and UK export control, including highly complex licensing and compliance challenges. Clients come from a wide range of sectors with energy, transport and chemicals well represented. Among a wealth of instructions, the team advised a major global oilfield services company as to whether a sealed radioactive source (used for oil well logging) required an export licence in light of the list of controlled radioactive sources and/or the EU/UK dual-use regime. 

Milan’s Studio Legale Padovan is home to a respected export controls team of 11 professionals, led by the firm’s founder Marco Padovan and by Marco Zinzani. The team prides itself on tailor-made advice for a wide range of clients who include non-Italian law firms as well as corporates. Recent highlights include advising an Italian bank listed on the FTSE Italia with the revision of its existing policy on military goods control and the drafting of new guidelines on transactions involving dual-use products in line with sectoral best practices.

SANCTIONS LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR – USA

Winner: Steptoe

Winner of this year’s award (and of the 2018 award), Steptoe has a long-standing, highly-regarded economic sanctions practice that advises clients on high-stakes, cross-border compliance, risk management, and enforcement issues. The team has expanded in recent years, adding to its capabilities and geographic presence with well-known former government officials. In June of 2021, Dave Stetson, a former senior lawyer at the US Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), joined the firm’s New York office. Stetson spent nearly a decade at Goldman Sachs as the lead sanctions lawyer for Goldman’s global business lines. Stetson’s arrival followed the 2019 opening of Steptoe’s Hong Kong office and the arrival of a team of US-qualified export controls and sanctions lawyers led by Wendy Wysong, former prosecutor and Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). In the DC office, Stetson joined a cast of celebrated trade practitioners including partners Ed Krauland and Alexandra Baj. 

The team has been involved in some of the most high-profile sanctions matters in recent years. Its representation of Huawei CFO, Meng Wanzhou, in her battle against extradition from Canada to the US on Iran sanctions-related bank fraud charges, finally resulted in the executive’s return to China. Also of note was its representation of Ali Sadr, an American-educated businessman born in Iran, in his high-profile criminal sanctions case that ultimately resulted in the judge dismissing the indictment against him with prejudice. The team’s efforts led to post-trial revelations that prosecutors suppressed a significant volume of exculpatory evidence and made multiple misrepresentations to the court. And in what is understood to have been unique in recent years, the team successfully represented a Russian energy and metals company in being removed from the OFAC SDN List. 

WorldECR salutes this team of winners.

Runner-up: Hogan Lovells

The superb team at Hogan Lovells, led by Beth Peters and Ajay Kuntamukkala, provides clients with a full service in reducing sanctions risk, monitoring developments in the various sanctions programmes on a daily basis, and assisting in all aspects of dealing with potential violations, including voluntary disclosures and penalty assessments. A truly international focus brings clients from all over the globe to the DC-based powerhouse. Among a raft of notable instructions

• The team continues to advise ZTE globally on its compliance with the terms of 2017 and 2018 settlement agreements with the US government that collectively amount to one of the largest settlements in the history of US export controls and sanctions enforcement.
• With a strong brand in Asia, the team is a leader in advice to companies listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE), having advised more than 35 clients on their proposed IPOs of their shares on the exchange, assessing the applicability of US, EU, UN, and Australian economic sanctions to the clients’ business as necessary to respond to Hong Kong regulators’ questions and prospectus comments regarding these laws. The team regularly receives referrals from other law firms to handle these matters.
• The firm is long standing trade counsel to Pfizer, which it is supporting in the fight against COVID-19, advising the company on a number of trade issues related to the distribution and shipment of the novel mRNA-based Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, including economic sanctions, export controls, customs, and trade policy issues globally. 

Honourable Mentions

Freshfields

Nabeel Yousef (DC) and Stephanie Brown Cripps (New York) steer Freshfields’ increasingly highly regarded sanctions practice which is kept busy by a client base that includes numerous financial institutions. Recent and ongoing instructions include advising a syndicate of 22 global financial institutions and three export credit agencies on US and EU sanctions and export controls issues relating to the US$13 billion project financing of the Amur Gas Processing Plant, the largest gas processing plant in Russia and one of the biggest in the world. 

Morgan Lewis 

Morgan Lewis’s International Trade and National Security practice is well known for its in-depth knowledge and experience advising clients on sanctions requirements and compliance. The team secured a major victory for a global online services provider in a complex sanctions investigation across multiple jurisdictions. The potential penalties ranged into the billions of dollars, and the client had prepared itself to pay up to $100 million but advancing ‘novel arguments regarding the interpretation of complex US sanctions regulations, [the] team convinced OFAC that the matter should be concluded with a cautionary letter rather than enforcement action and penalties.’

SANCTIONS LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR – EUROPE

Winner: Baker Botts

This year’s Sanctions Law Firm (Europe) is Baker Botts. 

Bakers Botts’ European sanctions team is led by Chris Caulfield in London and Brian Byrne in Brussels, advising on all aspects of EU and UK sanctions and offering clients a one-stop-shop service (frequently in partnership with colleagues in DC who provide US sanctions advice in tandem as needed). 

On the European side, two areas have particularly dominated business-critical sanctions advice provided by the team: the impact of Brexit; and the imposition by the EU and the UK of extensive sanctions on Belarus. For example, driven by the changing regulatory landscape following Brexit, the team produced a 74-page memorandum for a global oil company in the space of four days over Christmas 2020. Regarding Belarus, the imposition of sweeping sanctions by the EU following the detainment of blogger Roman Protasevich from his Ryanair flight led to a substantial volume of client requests for urgent and business-critical advice, including relating to the continued and ongoing transportation of oil across Belarus worth hundreds of millions of dollars by a major oil company (the firm was effectively asked whether an immediate stop needed to be put to the same; the answer was no, allowing a crucial trading route for the client to continue in operation).

Away from Brexit and Belarus, the team has continued to service the needs of its international clients, including

• Advising one of the largest industrial projects currently being developed in Russia as to whether it raises any potential concerns under EU and UK sanctions. The analysis has been crucial in persuading international financers, suppliers and other project participants that neither the project, nor the key project parties, are targeted by any EU and UK sanctions restrictions. Without this analysis, the project would almost certainly have failed.
• Advising a major global oilfield services company regarding its commercial relationships in Turkey in light of EU sanctions targeting Turkey’s unauthorised drilling activities in Cypriot waters.

WorldECR is pleased to recognise this dynamic group with this award.

Runner-up: Allen & Overy

Allen & Overy (A&O)’s International Trade and Regulatory Law Group is home to lawyers specialising in sanctions in the UK, Europe, the US, and APAC. The group offers the full range of sanctions-related advice, from drafting compliance policies and aiding clients with their implementation, to assisting clients faced with regulatory investigations or prosecutions concerning sanctions, transactional support such as in M&A, advising on jurisdiction issues, and providing training to senior management, boards of directors, employees and agents in sanctions compliance. Well-regarded members of the group include London-based partner Matthew Townsend and senior associate Jonathan Benson.

Brexit-driven matters have contributed to the Europe team’s workload. The team assisted UK Finance, the trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector, in preparing it and its members for the changing sanctions landscape post-Brexit, contributing to the development of a paper ‘UK Sanctions Statutory Instruments Review – Individual regime’, which provides a vital resource for financial institutions and other firms with a responsibility to comply with UK sanctions legislation either in the UK or overseas. The team was responsible for the analysis of the Russia and Crimea-related regimes. In addition to producing the written analysis, the team provided an oral briefing and Q&A session for UK Finance’s members.

Other instructions include advice in relation to the UK’s departure from the EU for the UK entity in a major Japanese bank.

Honourable Mentions

Winner of this award in 2017, HFW is industry sector-focused, with expertise across commodities, construction, energy and resources, shipping, aerospace and insurance/reinsurance. The sanctions practice is a cross-departmental group, with experts servicing clients in the firm’s core sectors. The firm is committed to creative and innovative technology solutions benefiting clients. Recent initiatives include preparing a comprehensive matrix of sanctioned cargoes to be used by a global shipping line in order to automate its sanctions-checking process.

Debevoise & Plimpton ‘is able to provide global service, the partners and other lawyers are all high quality, responsive and very practical,’ reports one multinational client. Recent instructions saw the team advise an international payment services provider in relation to contentious issues arising from the EU Blocking Regulation, and a CIS-headquartered international industrial group in a sensitive enforcement matter in an EU Member State.

EXPORT CONTROLS/SANCTIONS LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR – ROW

Winner: Akin Gump

Winner of this award in 2018, Akin Gump continues to enhance both team and reputation beyond the DC home office, especially in Asia and the Middle East. The export controls and sanctions teams bring together US-qualified lawyers and local law practitioners in jurisdictions such as China where local law advice in the sanctions and export control space has become a critical component of its practice. 

Highly regarded team members include Tatman Savio in Asia – Savio advises on US law and policy affecting international trade and has developed close working relationships with Chinese law firms, regularly advising their clients on US controls, sanctions, foreign investment, and Xinjiang-related issues – and in the Middle East, Mahmoud (Mac) Fadlallah, who serves as partner-in-charge of the firm’s Dubai office and directs its export controls and sanctions efforts throughout the region. Fadlallah is the brains behind the firm’s Overruled website (the site allows users to search OFAC and BIS enforcement actions and guidance).

Among a long list of recent engagements, the firm

• Represented a UAE cybersecurity consultancy in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the DOJ National Security Division;
• Advocated on behalf of a Chinese high-tech company that was listed on a draft of potentially prohibited parties under the MEU rules. Following a detailed submission – prepared on an urgent basis – explaining to Commerce that the potential designation was legally incorrect and should not be made, the firm’s client was one of a small number of companies not designated on the list when it was announced in December 2020. The team then assisted the company to develop its compliance programme related to military end-use and military end-user issues; and
• Represented a leading maintenance, repair, overhaul (MRO) service provider to aircraft in an export controls investigation by the US Bureau of Industry and Security of exports and missile technology controlled items without proper authorisation or recordkeeping. The matter was closed out without agency action. 

Runner-up: Steptoe

In late 2019, Steptoe added Hong Kong to its network of offices around the world – DC, New York, London, Brussels, Beijing – and a group of highly regarded practitioners to staff it. Wendy Wysong, former prosecutor and Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) leads a team that includes partner Ali Burney, a former OFAC lawyer, and of counsel Nick Turner, a former sanctions and compliance practitioner working in-house for a global financial institution. Steptoe’s HK office, which is currently licensed to practise US and UK law, also includes lawyers who are qualified in Hong Kong, Singapore, and mainland China. In a short amount of time, Steptoe has made a significant impact in the Hong Kong market, building a strong market profile and attracting a wide range of new clients to the firm. 

The following years have seen the firm, among other matters, 

• Represent one of the largest logistic companies in APAC regarding a voluntary self-disclosure to the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for potential violations of US sanctions. An ongoing multi-year and cross-border investigation, it involves de novo issues of sanctions laws and potential appeals of OFAC preliminary findings and decisions.
• Assist a company in the petroleum industry based in South Asia in responding to a sanctions inquiry from the US State Department regarding a shipment of oil potentially of Iranian origin. The team engaged with senior State Department officials to clear the company’s name after the initiation of the inquiry and also engaged with local officials to clear up any misunderstandings. 

WorldECR recognises a first-class team that has hit the ground running.

Honourable Mentions

Economic Laws Practice (ELP)

With seven offices across India, ELP’s expertise is illustrated in its advice to domestic and international clients on all issues of compliance under, but not limited to, the Special Chemicals, Organism, Materials, Equipment and Technologies (SCOMET) List. Recent examples of work for global-name clients include advice to an international telecoms company in relation to obtaining a SCOMET licence for repairs of telecoms products; to a US corporation on obtaining a SCOMET licence for products covered under the Munition List from the Department of Defence Production; and to a domestic client in relation to obtaining a SCOMET licence for export of technology to its various subsidiaries and offices across the globe. ELP won this award in 2016.

Rajah & Tann

With 10 offices across China and South-East Asia, the Rajah & Tann Trade Team boasts true depth and breadth, built on locally qualified lawyers with a unique understanding of local mores and regulators. Among a long list of export control and sanctions matters, the team advised a client alleged by the UNSC to have breached sanctions against North Korea by undertaking several ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum from one of its vessels to a North Korean-flagged vessel. The team assisted in the investigation and also advised the client on its response to the enquiries posed by the UNSC’s panel of experts.

CONSULTANT OF THE YEAR

Winner: FTI

The 2021 award goes to FTI Consulting. 

In March 2019, the firm recruited Matt Bell to build an export controls and sanctions-focused practice. In just over two years, this has grown to a global team of 20+ people (six in Asia, two in EMEA, and 16 in the United States). Bell, who worked previously in trade compliance roles in industry, including at ZTE and Weatherford, has built a team of experienced and well-regarded members who include: in Asia – Johnny Xie (Shanghai); Peining Zhao (Beijing); Sally Peng (Hong Kong); EMEA – Jim Huish; Americas – Eric Rudolph; Tom Andrukonis (ex BIS); Steve Wilcox (ex BIS).

Its services for clients include: export controls – focuses on US, UK, EU, China, and other jurisdiction export controls issues, including classification, licensing, jurisdiction, and programme development; sanctions – focuses on US, UK, EU, and other jurisdiction sanctions issues, including compliance assessments, licensing/exemption reviews, screening tool implementation/evaluation, and general due diligence/risk assessments; trade – focuses on global customs and supply chain issues including classification, valuation, origin, preferential programmes and supply chain restructuring issues.

The team is happy to roll up sleeves and get stuck in. Its assistance with classification and restricted party screening software evaluation for Micron Technology Inc. grew into a full-time secondment for one of its senior consultants – Ian Robinson. Due to staff turnover and a leave of absence at Micron, Ian took the lead on daily operations in Micron’s Global Trade Compliance team which included successful implementation of a new restricted party screening system that involved connecting four different systems to the vendor’s screening tool; pre-clearing 15,000 potential screening matches to minimise operational disruption on the go-live date; and updating and/or creating corporate policies and procedures related to new screening protocols.

Another matter saw the team advise a major global electrical components manufacturer in its move of a plant from the US to Mexico. The team was asked to classify the items and technology that would need to transfer. In the process, it identified a number of potential violations and immediately put a halt on the work, informing the client and recommending it engage a law firm for privilege protections. The team then supported a privileged investigation into potential violations over the past five years covering both ITAR and EAR issues.

WorldECR congratulates the team on its performance and the positive reviews it has received.

Runner-up: Content Enablers

Runner-up in this category is online trade compliance training organisation, Content Enablers (CE).

Companies with business units across the globe rely on CE’s training to reach employees speaking a variety of languages and operating under the regulations of numerous country jurisdictions. Over the past year, CE has continued to expand its global trade control content which now covers the regulations of 28 countries, with training elements translated into 15 languages.

Prior to challenges related to the Covid-19 health crisis, easy online access to current and quality trade compliance training has been a staple of CE’s learning model. Remote work and travel restrictions have made safe, cloud-based training not only effective and convenient, but also essential. The company has received praise for training that is complete, engaging, and relevant. It has developed training configurations designed for the aerospace and defence sector, and a host of medical and technology organisations. For example, the company is assisting a Fortune 500 medical products and equipment company in the deployment of a corporate learning plan built by CE that includes functional training specifically for the medical industry and reaches various functions including marketing, engineering, and human resources, as well as general employees.

To support clients and the larger compliance community, CE has teamed up with key partners, including EGADD [the Export Group for Aerospace Defence and Dual-Use], and Livingston International to provide a selection of complimentary online trade compliance trainings to help keep compliance efforts on track. These have been made available free of charge, until live and in-person training programmes can return to normal protocols. An admirable initiative, indeed!

Honourable Mention: Customs Manager

Reminding us that that beautiful is not always big, Arne Mielken and his trade consultancy Customs Manager receives an Honourable Mention. Customs Manager Ltd launched in November 2020 and is already receiving a positive response: ‘We have been working with Arne Mielken (Customs Manager) for almost a year now and he has been very helpful in supporting our business with the changes before and after Brexit,’ reports the MD of one UK-based environmental support products manufacturer. Advising on the delivery of nuclear fuel cartridges to a UK power plant from a sanctioned third country via the EU, a transaction that demanded assistance with the organisation of the correct licences, processes and procedures, after Brexit, was among recent highlights.

EXPORT CONTROLS COMPLIANCE TEAM OF THE YEAR (Medium-size) 

Winner: Patria/Kongsberg

It was a closely fought battle, but our winner is the ‘Trade Compliance Project’, a cooperation between the Patria (Finland-based) and Kongsberg (Norway-based) company trade compliance groups. We applaud this innovative approach to building compliance performance through collaborating with another organisation.

The Trade Compliance Project came into the world in June 2019 as the companies sought to join forces to strengthen their trade compliance programmes and achieve a new holistic approach to export compliance, improving competences and systems for trade compliance and sharing best practices. The collaboration was seen as especially important for Kongsberg Aviation Maintenance Services, where there is shared ownership between Kongsberg and Patria. 

The declared objectives of the project are to:

• Raise awareness on the criticality of trade compliance for current and future business;
• Establish a strong company culture of export compliance by setting it as a top priority;
• Make export compliance an integral and natural part of the way the companies conduct business, and ensure it is ‘reflex top-of-mind’ for company employees;
• Leverage company skills, setting up a core group of skilled personnel to exchange best practices, establish a network and implement export compliance across each company.

Among the efforts to achieve these objectives, the project members cooperated on cross-company webinars and created a trade compliance newsletter for both companies.

The Project is to be rolled out in four phases. The first phase – planning – began back in late June 2020. The second phase involves assessments and gap analyses using pilot companies. This will provide a basis for determining whether their procedures are adapted to the relevant risks and are proportionate.

Rosa Rosanelli, Group Export Compliance Officer – Senior Legal Counsel at Patria leads the Project. She explains that ‘In this way, we will be able to identify and prioritise risk areas and establish a joint strategic approach to export control. In the third phase, we will put together a core team consisting of specialists in export control, establish a network and identify the solution that is most appropriate for the organisation. The final stage is implementation, where we implement the solutions for the pilot companies and carry out training.’

A problem shared is a problem halved (at least). WorldECR congratulates the Project members on what appears an excellent initiative.

Runner-up: Fraunhofer

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is one of the world’s leading applied research organisations. Its research fields include both dual-use and military technology. It is home to more than 29,000 employees. 

The export control compliance team is part of the legal department and consists of five lawyers, supported by one export control specialist and three assistants. Each of the lawyers provides legal support to several of Fraunhofer´s 75 research institutes across Germany and assists Fraunhofer’s worldwide foreign branches and representative offices.

The research organisation provides its partners with cutting-edge technology that will often be of dual-use or military nature. Each project is unique, and must be assessed on a case-by-case basis for compliance issues. This legal examination also includes drafting and amending export control clauses adapted to each individual case. Additionally, an export control assessment is performed for the recruitment of foreign staff (e.g., students, PhD candidates), ongoing employment of foreign staff, publications, business trips abroad and technical assistance for each project. 

The complex mix of a centralised and decentralised export control system – with each central team member supporting a number of institutes – enables the team to manage the large number of cases which arise in the course of a year. It allows the legal team in the Headquarters to provide the institutes with consistent instructions and legal advice appropriate for each institute and to monitor projects with potentially higher risks. 

The team is involved in product classification, working with scientists on the latest scientific and technical innovations. And the work doesn’t stop there. The team provides regular export control trainings and supports the compliance message throughout the organisation.

WorldECR recognises this impressive team providing a compliant foundation for a prolific research institution.

EXPORT CONTROLS COMPLIANCE TEAM OF THE YEAR (Smaller team) 

Winner: Dassault Systèmes

With 260,000 users worldwide and Euro 4.5 billion in revenue in 2020, Dassault Systèmes (3DS) is one of the largest software companies in the world. Its products and services reach into most heavily regulated industries, from transport to aerospace and defence, shipping and energy, construction and healthcare.

Winner in this award is the company’s EMEARI Export Compliance Team (serving Europe, Middle East, Africa, Russia, India), based in offices near Paris, France. From here, Fanny Jolly, Camille Roux, Inna Chassagne, Alain Leboeuf and Wistan Hennetier offer proactive trade compliance support to their region.

The approach to trade compliance is a holistic one. 3DS management seeks to ensure that all staff involved in export-related activities are equipped with the awareness and knowledge necessary to comply with evolving trade controls and sanctions. To achieve this, the Team has accelerated the enhancement of its own compliance awareness-raising programme, taking advantage of the type of innovation that the company is built upon.

The Team uses the company’s virtual ‘University’ to disseminate trade compliance information and training throughout the workforce. It has created e-learning modules for trade compliance which it complements with live training sessions. Upon successful completion of an export compliance course, a 3DS employee is certified as having completed the training and having the tools to ensure company compliance with applicable controls and sanctions within the scope of his/her duties. 3DS employees must pass the exam every two years to maintain their role certification – exam questions and answers are revised every year by the Team.

To provide clear and consistent guidance across 3DS subsidiaries worldwide, the Team maintains virtual manuals of export compliance processes and policies. These manuals are made available to all personnel on an internal platform.

3DS also expects its partners to strictly comply with applicable export control laws and sanctions programmes. The Team has created a handbook for 3DS partners, in all jurisdictions, detailing the basic requirements of export compliance and setting out guidelines for compliance. This is shared with them at the start of any collaboration with 3DS. The guidance covers conducting export transactions in arms-embargoed countries, identifying red flags, monitoring customer’s end uses and end users and taking additional precautions during data exchange.

WorldECR applauds this holistic approach and the Team upon whom its success is built.