WilmerHale is pleased to announce that former US International Trade Commission (ITC) Chair and current Commissioner Rhonda Schmidtlein will join the firm as a partner in its industry-leading International Trade, Investment and Market Access Practice Group. She will be based in WilmerHale’s Washington, DC office.
Schmidtlein, a leading international trade lawyer with over three decades in a variety of high-profile roles has a unique blend of skill, perspective and experience to help clients navigate their most sensitive issues. Her practice will focus on the US trade remedy laws and Section 337 trade-related intellectual property disputes.
As an ITC commissioner, she has participated as a decisionmaker in more than 300 Section 337 determinations and more than 170 AD/CVD cases as well as four global safeguard investigations. She also brings significant experience in trade policy, domestic and international trade litigation and regulatory matters. Schmidtlein will be one of just three former ITC commissioners in private practice.
Building on her experience, her practice will assist clients engaging with the ITC, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), the US Department of Commerce, US Customs and Border Protection and the courts. In trade remedy investigations, she will assist petitioners and respondents in securing or defending against the imposition of antidumping duties, countervailing duties and safeguard remedies. In Section 337 proceedings, she will work with the firm’s IP litigation attorneys in assisting consumer brand, technology, life sciences, manufacturing and other companies in enforcing and/or defending their intellectual property rights before the ITC, USTR and the courts.
“Rhonda will be an extraordinary addition to our Trade team and government-facing offerings generally, with her incredibly successful service at the highest levels of federal trade policy, regulation and enforcement,” said WilmerHale Managing Partner Anjan Sahni. “She has the well-earned respect of policymakers on both sides of the aisle and among trade experts. Our clients will benefit immensely from the broad range of experience and capabilities she will bring.”
“I’m thrilled that I’ll be joining WilmerHale, a dynamic, global law firm where I can use my experience to help clients navigate the most complex trade landscape any of us can remember,” Schmidtlein said. “Issues arising from policy changes we expect from the incoming administration, the fraught US-China relationship, changes to global supply chains and the broader shifts in the multilateral trading system, are among the challenges I and my future WilmerHale colleagues, many with high-profile government experience themselves, look forward to tackling on behalf of our clients.”
Schmidtlein was appointed to the ITC by President Obama and commenced her term on April 28, 2014. She served as Chair from January 2017 to June 2018. Immediately before her appointment, she was a consulting expert to the World Bank on projects to strengthen audit and accounting regulation in emerging markets.
From 2003 to 2011, Schmidtlein served at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and was the Founding Director of the PCAOB’s Office of International Affairs, where she was responsible for the development and execution of the agency’s international rules and policies. She also led negotiating teams that reached agreements enabling PCAOB inspections and access to confidential information in 36 countries, including Switzerland, Japan, the Netherlands, Israel, Korea, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Norway, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Russia, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates, among others.
Prior to the PCAOB, Schmidtlein served as an Associate General Counsel at USTR from 1998 to 2003, where she represented the United States in disputes before the World Trade Organization and provided legal advice in connection with the negotiation of US Free Trade Agreements, including the US-Singapore FTA, US-Chile FTA, US-Australia FTA, US-CAFTA/DR FTA, US-Morocco FTA and US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement.
From 1993 to 1998, Schmidtlein was a litigator for the US Department of Justice, Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, where she served as the lead attorney in dozens of trial-level cases involving challenges to US trade agencies’ antidumping and countervailing determinations, US customs regulations, financial services and government contracts. She also represented the United States in numerous federal appellate proceedings.
A frequent public speaker and panelist, she has appeared on stage at events including those of the Court of International Trade Judicial Conference, the Federal Circuit Bar Association Bench & Bar conference and the ITC Trial Lawyers Association annual meetings.
Schmidtlein has a B.Sc. in Accountancy from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law.