Schmidtlein_Rhonda

Rhonda K. Schmidtlein

Schmidtlein_Rhonda

Rhonda K. Schmidtlein *

Partner

Washington DC + 1 202 663 6188

Rhonda Schmidtlein, former Chair and Commissioner of the US International Trade Commission (ITC), focuses her practice on the US trade remedy laws and Section 337 trade-related intellectual property disputes. With over 25 years of public-sector experience in international trade law and policy, she counsels clients engaging with the ITC, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), the US Department of Commerce, the US Department of Justice, US Customs and Border Protection and the courts.

During her time at the ITC, Ms. Schmidtlein served as the Chair from 2017 to 2018 and as a Commissioner from 2014 to 2025. As Chair, she managed all aspects of the agency including all substantive mission areas, interactions with USTR and Congress, budget formulation and execution, personnel and strategic planning. As Commissioner, she participated as a decisionmaker in more than 300 Section 337 determinations and more than 225 AD/CVD cases as well as four global safeguard investigations. 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, Ms. Schmidtlein served at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) 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.

Prior to joining the PCAOB, Ms. Schmidtlein was an Associate General Counsel at USTR, 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.

Ms. Schmidtlein also served as an Honors Program trial attorney for the Department of Justice in its Civil Division, where she was a 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.

Ms. Schmidtlein began her career as a law clerk for the Honorable Howard Sachs, then Chief Judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

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Credentials

  • Education

    • JD, University of North Carolina School of Law, 1991

      Notes and Comments Editor, North Carolina Journal of Int’l Law and Commercial Regulation

    • BS, Accountancy, University of Missouri, 1988

      magna cum laude

  • Admissions

    • Missouri

  • Clerkships

    • The Hon. Howard Sachs, US District Court for the Western District of Missouri, 1991 - 1993

* Admitted to practice only in Missouri. Supervised by members of the firm who are members of the District of Columbia Bar.

Credentials

* Admitted to practice only in Missouri. Supervised by members of the firm who are members of the District of Columbia Bar.

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