Crowell & Moring's International Trade Group Expands With Experienced Customs Lawyer

Washington, D.C. - October 27, 2008: Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to announce the addition of partner John B. Brew to the firm's International Trade Group in Washington, D.C. Brew primarily advises domestic and international clients on the full range of customs issues and has extensive experience with import and export trade regulation matters. Brew brings nearly 20 years experience in a wide variety of industries, including pharmaceutical, chemical, retail, manufacturing, and textile and apparel. He joins the firm from Kelley Drye Collier Shannon.

"A true Customs lawyer, John's level of sophistication is a perfect complement to our international trade team. There is a steady and growing demand for this experience from many of our clients doing business internationally. His arrival will deepen and strengthen our existing Customs practice, which is one of the three main disciplines of traditional trade law, in addition to trade remedies and export controls and sanctions," said Jeffrey L. Snyder, chair of Crowell & Moring's International Trade Group. "The clients John brings to the firm rely on him to provide creative and practical solutions to the challenges of managing the legal risks of international trade."

Brew regularly advises corporations, trade associations, foreign governments, and non-governmental organizations in proceedings at the administrative and judicial levels, as well as before Congress and international bureaucracies, on matters involving customs administration, enforcement, compliance, litigation, legislation, and policy. He has a wide range of experience working with clients on complex compliance issues that include import valuation, tariff classification, marking, origin, unilateral preference programs such as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), multilateral trade agreements such as NAFTA, drawback, foreign trade zones, and other trade programs. In addition, he has extensive experience helping clients with duty savings strategies and duty recovery matters.

His practice also includes representation of clients in international trade areas, such as export controls and sanctions, market access, World Customs Organization and World Trade Organization-related matters, foreign corrupt practices, anti-boycott, anti-dumping and countervailing duty actions, short supply proceedings, and other import relief actions.

"International trade law is changing at a rapid rate. As businesses struggle with expanding global trade and a lack of global harmonization of custom rules, trade regulations, and security, Crowell & Moring's appreciation for the way this practice is changing, combined with its international trade team that is as diverse and multidisciplinary as it is deep, makes this the right firm for myself and my clients," said Brew.

Brew will also work closely with Crowell & Moring's White Collar & Securities Litigation Group as he is particularly skilled at managing interventions by the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including audits, penalties, investigations, and seizures. He received his J.D. from Penn State Dickinson School of Law and his B.A. from Bucknell University.

The firm's International Trade Group has recently been ranked in Chambers USA and Chambers Global. The group, as a whole, advises global business on the impact of U.S. and international trade laws with long-term experience in the fundamentals of the import and export law regimes including customs, antidumping, export controls on commercial and military technology, Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) matters, and other trade laws. Mirrored in the firm's Brussels office, the trade practice provides key advice under U.S. and European trade laws. Of special note is the firm's affiliate, C&M International, the premier international trade policy consultancy. The International Trade Group also teams often with the firm's Intellectual Property Group for Section 337 cases and with the International Dispute Resolution Group for treaty arbitration.

Crowell & Moring LLP is an international law firm with more than 450 lawyers practicing in litigation, antitrust, government contracts, health care, corporate, intellectual property and a variety of other practice areas. More than two-thirds of the firm's attorneys regularly litigate disputes on behalf of domestic and international corporations, start-up businesses, and individuals. Crowell & Moring's extensive client work ranges from advising on one of the world's largest telecommunications mergers to representing governments and corporations on international arbitration matters. Based in Washington, D.C., the firm also has offices in New York, London, Brussels, Los Angeles, and Irvine, CA.

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