Overview
(September 9, 2020, Washington, DC) — Steptoe & Johnson LLP announced today the launch of its Supply Chain team. Spearheaded by Jeff Weiss, co-leader of the firm's International Trade Policy practice and former port and supply chain policy lead for the Secretary of Commerce, the team will serve as a invaluable resource for global businesses looking to strengthen and safeguard their supply chains.
The Steptoe Supply Chain team will leverage the considerable expertise of the firm's lawyers, who work across legal practice areas and industries, to help companies around the world navigate the regulatory, litigation, transactional, and legislative/policy issues in relevant areas of law and policy—including tax, international trade, customs and logistics, Brexit, retail, transportation, commercial contracts, telecommunications, labor and employment, privacy, cybersecurity, food contact materials, standards and conformity assessment, government contracts, FCPA/anti-corruption, business and human rights, exports controls, CFIUS, and sanctions, chemicals and raw materials, and government affairs. Drawing on this wealth of experience, the team will help companies tackle a wide variety of challenges that could threaten the sustainability—or even viability—of their global supply chains.
"In the best of times, businesses face a myriad of risks to the stability of their supply chains, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only intensified those risks," said Weiss. "In the current environment, businesses with any degree of international exposure need to continually assess the resilience of their supply chains. Steptoe's lawyers bring decades of experience working across disciplines and borders to help clients build and safeguard their supply chains, mitigate legal and political risks, and facilitate the movement of goods and services to gain a competitive advantage."
Weiss joined Steptoe in March 2020, bringing more than 15 years' experience in senior legal, policy, diplomatic, negotiation, and political roles in the US government across three administrations – including at the White House, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), and the Department of Commerce. While at Commerce, he served as deputy director for policy and strategic planning, advising the Commerce secretary and the White House on a wide range of economic policy issues, including port and supply chain issues, and leading the Obama Administration's development of a US strategy to improve US competitiveness through best practices for port communities, as well as its response to the Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy in 2016. In his previous position in the White House Office of Management and Budget, Weiss served as associate administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which oversees the US regulatory process. Earlier in his career, Weiss served at USTR as senior director and negotiator for Technical Barriers to Trade, assistant general counsel, and assistant legal advisor at the Mission of the United States to the WTO in Geneva.
The Steptoe Supply Chain team will advise businesses on a broad range of dynamic issues, whether they be:
- Efforts by governments and companies, in the new era of COVID-19, to draw critical supply chains closer to home
- Economic and national security tensions between the United States and China that have led to the imposition of tariffs and other trade controls
- Implications of Brexit for UK-EU, UK-US, and global trade
- Ever-changing export controls and sanctions regimes and related national security considerations presenting increased legal risks and supply chain uncertainty
- Potential national and regional climate change measures, such as the EU’s proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism
- New national policies that encourage onshoring and reshoring for economic and/or national security reasons (e.g., telecommunications, energy grid, medical goods, critical minerals)
Click here for more information on Steptoe’s Supply Chain team.
About Steptoe
In more than 100 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.