Spencer Toubia is an associate in the International Trade Group of Crowell & Moring and resident in the firm's Washington, D.C. office.
Spencer’s practice focuses on advising clients on all areas of trade remedies, import regulatory compliance, and international trade litigation. His experience covers an extensive range of trade remedies issues, including those related to antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations, administrative reviews, and litigation; steel and aluminum tariffs under Section 232 National Security Investigation; and the additional tariffs on products from China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
Before joining Crowell & Moring, Spencer worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce at the International Trade Administration conducting and initiating AD and CVD investigations and administrative reviews. He spent almost two years in the enforcement division where he conducted several high-profile AD and CVD investigations involving market economy and non-market economy countries. His responsibilities included performing quantitative analyses of data submitted by foreign respondents, conducting on-site verifications of foreign respondents (and their U.S. affiliates) and foreign governments, drafting agency determinations, calculating CVD rates and AD duty margins using SAS computer programs, and preparing administrative determinations pursuant to judicial remands. He then spent about a year in the Office of AD Policy, where he focused on instituting and normalizing a rarely used mechanism for self-initiating AD and CVD cases known as “self-initiations.” In addition, he helped counsel prospective AD and CVD petitioners. Spencer was actively involved in the Department of Commerce’s first self-initiations of AD and CVD cases in over 25 years.
Before moving to Commerce, Spencer spent his last semester of law school as a full-time intern at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit under the Honorable Judge Evan Wallach. Spencer helped review several appeals from the Court of International Trade, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
While in law school, Spencer served as a research assistant to Professor Raj Bhala, a renowned international trade law scholar, by whom Spencer is acknowledged for his contributions to several highly circulated textbooks in international trade law and international finance. Spencer also participated in the ELSA International Trade Moot Court Competition, where he argued before a mock World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel. He also spent a summer in Kansas’ largest District Attorneys’ office, where he argued before the court in several hearings and trials.
Before embarking on his legal career, Spencer worked for two years in international trade finance in the banking sector, where he focused on import and export letters of credit and foreign-exchange.
Affiliations
Admitted to practice: Missouri
Spencer is admitted in Missouri only, practicing under the supervision of D.C. Bar members.