Benjamin H. Shanbaum concentrates his practice in customs and international trade matters. He has a wide range of experience in counseling importers on their responsibilities to US Customs and Border Protection. Such experience includes matters involving tariff classification and valuation of merchandise, country of origin marking and rules of origin, recordkeeping obligations, and obtaining preferential duty treatment under trade agreements and other special programs. More recently, Benjamin has counseled numerous clients on both the impact and strategies to mitigate the impact of “Section 232” and “Section 301” trade enforcement measures. He has assisted in conducting internal importer audits and reviews, advised and represented clients facing customs investigations and civil penalty cases, and regularly speaks at client-based and other import compliance training seminars.

Benjamin has also advised clients on a variety of trade issues administered by different federal agencies. He has navigated domestic industry and respondent companies through antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on merchandise imported from abroad, while counseling other clients on the effect of trade remedy orders on their businesses. He has worked on section 337 investigations on the protection of intellectual property before the International Trade Commission, handled numerous inquiries before the US Department of Commerce, and advised clients on compliance with Buy American rules accompanying government or other public procurement contracts.

On the export side, Benjamin advises clients large and small on fast-developing and evolving export controls regimes in the United States and other major jurisdictions. This includes experience in handling commodity jurisdiction and classification questions, navigating the U.S. Commerce Control List and other requirements under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), anti-boycott laws, and U.S. economic sanctions administered by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). His work has included assisting companies on developing, auditing, and refining their compliance programs, navigating export licensing processes, filing and handing voluntary disclosures for civil violations, and conducting complex due diligence reviews.

Education

• JD, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, high honors, Order of the Coif

• BME, University of Illinois

Admissions

• Illinois

Court Admissions

• U.S. Court of International Trade

• U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit