About

Edward J. Krauland focuses on export controls/economic sanctions. Ed’s extensive experience includes representing clients on matters involving US and multilateral economic sanctions, defense and nuclear export controls, dual-use export controls under the EAR, anti-boycott compliance, internal investigations and enforcement work, and review of government procurement regulations in the cross-border context. His practice spans all aspects of these laws, including counseling, compliance work, transactional advice, licensing and opinion work, internal reviews, disclosures, and enforcement actions. He has served as co-chair of the International Trade Committee of the ABA Section of International Law and Practice. He is former Chairman of an ABA-wide Task Force on Gatekeeper Regulation (anti-money laundering compliance), and senior adviser to the ABA Section of International Law and Practice’s anti-money laundering committee.

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Meredith Rathbone focuses on export controls and economic sanctions, and has assisted clients in the energy, manufacturing, telecommunications, information security, banking, insurance, pharmaceutical, and service industries, among many others, in navigating the requirements of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and US sanctions regulations administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and US Department of State. She regularly assists companies in developing compliance policies, conducting internal investigations, performing training, and conducting due diligence in M&A transactions. She has represented individuals and companies facing civil and criminal investigations in this area, and has also represented clients in their efforts to be removed from OFAC’s list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs). She is a frequent writer and speaker on export controls and sanctions topics. She is the co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Export Controls and Economic Sanctions Committee, and also serves on the Sanctions Subcommittee of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy.

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Brian Egan advises on a number of international legal issues that affect US and foreign clients, including economic sanctions, export controls, and anti-money laundering programs; national security trade and investment reviews; international arbitration and other cross-border disputes; international cybersecurity and data privacy; and issues of public international law. He has worked in various senior legal positions for the US government, giving him keen insight into domestic and international legal matters that influence US government national security and foreign relations policies and programs. Before joining Steptoe, Brian served as the Legal Adviser to the US Department of State, the Legal Adviser to the National Security Council, Deputy White House Counsel, and Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement and Intelligence with the US Department of the Treasury. Brian has regularly appeared in public fora to speak on international legal issues, including testifying before Congress, public speaking engagements, and panel presentations.

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Simon Hirsbrunner is a dual-qualified Swiss and German lawyer. His practice involves EU and Swiss regulatory compliance, including advice on economic sanctions against third countries such as Iran, Libya, Syria and Russia. He has particular experience in advising banks on EU and Swiss financial sanctions. Simon is also well-known for his trade policy advice on Swiss-EU relations and he has particular industry expertise in financial services, energy and aviation. He takes a particular interest in the trade policy consequences of Brexit and has published various papers on this topic. Prior to joining Steptoe, Simon occupied various positions in public administration, including the Swiss Federal Office of Justice, the European Commission and the European Free Trade Association – EFTA, bringing more than two decades of experience in EU affairs.

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Maury Shenk is an Advisor to Steptoe’s London office and is a dual-qualified US/UK lawyer. Maury has experience on a wide variety of national and multi-national regulatory regimes relating to cross-border regulation and compliance, including export/import, trade sanctions, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, data protection, and competition law. He regularly counsels clients on these legal regimes, primarily from UK, EU and US perspectives. He often has handled such issues in the context of M&A due diligence (and related deal execution issues), internal investigations, government investigations and voluntary disclosures. His experience covers a wide range of industries, including IT infrastructure & information security, software, telecom & satellite, financial services, energy, petroleum & petrochemicals, aerospace & defense, and others.

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Guy Soussan advises clients on various aspects of EU and French export control regulations, including controls and licensing regimes for both military and commercial products and technologies. His export practice covers compliance development and implementation, internal investigations, and enforcement matters, including voluntary disclosures. He also provides advice and assistance with EU economic sanctions targeting specific countries such as Iran, Libya, Syria, and most recently, Ukraine and Russia. His experience covers a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, energy, telecommunications, banking and insurance, petroleum and petro-chemicals, aerospace, and defense. He has conducted internal compliance audits, provided assistance on company compliance programs, and counseled clients on the application of the rules to specific transactions.

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Yves Melin focuses on trade remedy investigations, customs laws and procedures, export controls and sanctions, conflict minerals, World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement, and data protection. He has represented clients before the EU Courts in more than 20 disputes relating to international trade and customs laws and has represented companies in more than 100 trade remedy proceedings across a wide range of industries. Yves is one of the founders of Green Lane, an alliance of European customs and international trade law firms through which Steptoe provides seamless advice and representation everywhere in Europe. Yves lectures at the University of Lille (France) and at the European Law Academy (ERA) in Trier (Germany) and is a member of the editorial board of Kluwer’s Global Trade & Customs Journal.

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Alex Baj’s practice primarily involves export controls and economic sanctions laws and regulations, anti-corruption investigations and compliance, international trade, and security clearance issues. Alex advises clients on export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), US sanctions regulations administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and nuclear export controls under the jurisdiction of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).  Alex specializes in the development and implementation of export and anti-corruption compliance policies and procedures and training, internal investigations and voluntary disclosures under the EAR, the ITAR, and OFAC rules, due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, and on encryption and cybersecurity export controls.  Her clients include companies involved in defense, aerospace, software, semiconductor, and uranium processing industries.

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Jack Hayes has extensive experience providing clients with advice and assistance under ITAR and EAR, as well as US economic sanctions and anti-boycott regulations. Jack frequently handles complex export control matters, including voluntary disclosures, internal investigations of apparent export control violations, pre-closing and post-closing acquisition export compliance due diligence, export control audits, and assessments of compliance obligations and risks in accordance with relevant international trade regulations. He also provides guidance on brokering requirements and reporting obligations for certain fees, commissions, and political contributions related to sales of defense articles and defense services, prepares export and reexport license and agreement applications for submission, undertakes commodity jurisdiction and export classification analyses of items and services under the ITAR and EAR, drafts registration material change notifications, and develops compliance policies, programs, and training materials.

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Liz LaRocca‘s experience includes assisting clients in a variety of industries, including engineering, IT, biotech, healthcare, sports, entertainment, and telecommunications. Liz has significant experience in PERM labor certifications and employment-based adjustments as well as nonimmigrant petitions for multinational executives, specialized knowledge employees, treaty investors, individuals of extraordinary ability, skilled workers and other professional employees with or without advanced degrees. She advises clients with regard to the intricacies of nonimmigrant visa petitions, and the preparation of immigrant based petitions and naturalization cases. Liz has broad experience drafting appeals, waivers, court motions and briefs, and represents clients at USCIS interviews and in court proceedings.  She has in depth experience representing corporate clients in merger and acquisitions, I-9 audits, and E-verify compliance. She also represents clients in complex immigration cases, consular processing and immigration ramifications of criminal charges.

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Peter Jeydel‘s practice focuses on US export controls and economic sanctions, including the Commerce Department’s Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the State Department’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and sanctions regulations administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the State Department. His practice spans all aspects of these regimes, including counseling, compliance, transactional advice, licensing and opinions, disclosures, and enforcement actions. He has also represented companies and individuals seeking de-listing from OFAC’s sanctions list. In addition, Pete has assisted clients in anti-corruption matters, including under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and has experience handling reviews and investigations by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

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Evan Abrams counsels multinational corporations, financial institutions, and individuals on various international regulatory and compliance matters. He assists foreign and domestic companies in navigating national security reviews by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). He has represented companies in industries including semiconductors, metals, and digital security. Evan’s anti-money laundering (AML) practice focuses on helping financial institutions comply with federal and state AML rules, particularly money transmitters and entities involved in creating, exchanging, or dealing in cryptocurrencies and tokens. Evan counsels clients in a variety of export controls and sanctions matters related to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and various sanctions programs under US and international law. In addition, Evan routinely assists clients on anti-corruption investigations and enforcement actions.

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