Of Counsel

Jim Holbein has decades of experience in government procurement, international trade transactions and contracting, trade policy and negotiating, customs policy and enforcement, tariff nomenclature and administration, dispute settlement, import compliance and risk management.  He has a wealth of experience advising government agencies and private sector trading firms about importing and exporting issues.  He has also trained foreign government officials on U.S. trade policy and taught as an Adjunct Professor of Law for 15 years. 

Jim is a former Federal Executive with more than 30 years of government experience, who most recently was responsible for supervising a professional staff maintaining the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. at the International Trade Commission (USITC).  He worked as a COTR at the USITC, helping with several large procurement actions.  He was on the U.S. negotiating team for the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement and drafted the Government Procurement chapter. Jim managed the NAFTA trade dispute settlement process while at the U.S. Department of Commerce.  He was a diplomat and trade negotiator for the U.S. Department of State, serving in Seoul, Korea and Oslo, Norway.  He also has substantial experience working in the private sector with small and medium-sized businesses on risk management and compliance matters.

He is the author of more than 30 books, articles and conference papers dealing with international trade. Jim is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia.