Dean Barclay empowers clients in their efforts to “find yes” by helping them lawfully move their goods and services across international borders and solve problems that arise from the unlawful movement of competitors’ goods. His practice focuses on customs issues, but his experience also includes civil litigation, export compliance, import relief and investigations.

Dean Barclay empowers clients in their efforts to “find yes” by helping them lawfully move their goods and services across international borders and solve problems that arise from the unlawful movement of competitors’ goods. His practice focuses on customs issues, but his experience also includes civil litigation, export compliance, import relief and investigations.

Customs – If you are an importer, you might have to pay duties when goods originating in another country enter the United States. The amount of any duties depends in part on the goods’ tariff classification (e.g., is this imported spare-tire lock a “padlock” or a “motor vehicle part”?). Dean has helped clients in seeking favorable administrative rulings that would classify their goods under tariff headings that minimize the duties assessed.

Litigation – Your company may need to ask a court to overturn administrative determinations that currently prevent the company from flourishing. Dean has repeatedly helped vessel operators in seeking judicial relief from excessive duties assessed on foreign shipyard work.

Export compliance – Whether you need an export license when sending a good or service overseas can be difficult to determine. Dean has helped clients relieve their uncertainty by submitting commodity jurisdiction requests to determine which U.S. agency, if any, controls the related export licensing.

Import relief – Disputes in your industry might arise over whether imports are unfairly tilting the competitive playing field. Antidumping duties seek to remedy the damage done when foreign manufacturers allegedly export high volumes of a product to the United States at prices below those charged in the manufacturer’s home market, and when such “dumped” imports materially injure—or threaten materially to injure—a competing U.S. industry. Dean has represented domestic and foreign clients during U.S. agency investigations, in which petitioners seek to have such duties imposed.

Investigations – If your company receives an inquiry from state and/or federal authorities or Congress, you can be exposed to considerable civil and criminal liability. Dean has counseled multi-national companies during internal investigations of alleged corruption, as well as external investigations conducted by international organizations and U.S. Congressional committees.

Dean’s representations have involved proceedings before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Court of International Trade, the Department of Commerce, the International Trade Commission, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the State Department, the Treasury Department and other federal agencies.

A member of the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, he has authored several plays and such articles as “Dead Hands and State Actors: The Racially Discriminatory Charitable Trust in Hermitage Methodist Homes,” Race & Ethnic Ancestry Law Journal [later renamed the Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice], Volume 7 (2001).

 

  • In April 2004, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed an independent committee, chaired by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, to investigate the U.N. Oil-for-Food Programme. Williams Mullen was engaged to represent one of the world’s leading trade inspection, security and certification companies, then under special scrutiny.In addition to the Volcker Committee, at least five U.S. congressional committees, the U.S. Department of Justice, the General Accountability Office and the Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit were conducting investigations. Given the multitude of jurisdictions involved, the investigations created novel and difficult legal issues in various legal disciplines. Williams Mullen therefore assembled a strong team of lawyers, lobbyists and forensic experts who conducted internal investigations on three continents, negotiated ‘friendly’ subpoenas from external investigators with whom the company cooperated, reviewed and produced thousands of pages of documents in multiple languages, and prepared formal testimony.
  • In 2006, low-priced Chinese imports of sodium hexametaphosphate (“SHMP”), a water softener, had captured nearly half the U.S. market, and the remaining U.S. producers were suffering major losses. Williams Mullen helped the U.S. producers to petition the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission to impose duties designed to level the playing field so that U.S. producers could invest in new capacity and raise their prices back to sustainable levels.
  • Williams Mullen represented a global chemicals manufacturer in negotiations with U.S. Customs. The company had expected to be able to import products from its Canadian plant into the United States duty-free under the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”). However, Customs ruled that the plant’s product did not originate in Canada and the company was liable for duties from 6.3 to 6.5 percent. Based on a detailed understanding of the manufacturing process and NAFTA regulations, our team argued that the product belonged under a different tariff classification and that the goods should enter the United States duty free.