Judge Clark Cheney has been named the chief administrative law judge at the International Trade Commission, the ITC announced. Cheney has served as an administrative law judge since 2018 and has filled the role as chief ALJ since January 2022 after former Chief Charles Bullock retired. Cheney will continue to rule on Section 337 unfair import trade investigations, the ITC said.

Ruchi Gill, former deputy chief counsel for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined Latham & Watkins as counsel in its Washington, D.C.-based white collar defense and investigations 'practice, the firm announced. Gill also will serve as a member of the litigation and trial department. She will advise clients on national security regulatory matters, including proceedings at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., export controls and economic sanctions, the firm said.

David Plotinsky, former acting chief and principal deputy chief of the Department of Justice's Foreign Investment Review Section, joined Morgan Lewis as a partner in the Washington, D.C.-based Federal Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Division, the firm announced. In his new role, Plotinsky will work on issues relating to "national security, telecommunications, and foreign investment in the United States," including matters at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the firm said. While at DOJ, Plotinsky led the agency's work before CFIUS.

Rufus Yerxa, previously president of the National Foreign Trade Council, is now senior adviser at McLarty Associates, the consulting company said Jan. 31.

The National Foreign Trade Council named Tiffany Smith vice president for global trade policy. Most recently, she was a senior policy adviser in Mayer Brown's international trade and government relations practice. Before joining the law firm, she worked for 16 years in the federal government, including as a Senate staffer, and at the Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

CBP released the names of those serving on the next Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee.

Erik Autor, former president of the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones, has joined customs and trade law firm Barlow & Co. as of counsel, he announced on LinkedIn. Autor's background includes a clerkship at the Court of International Trade and working at Skadden Arps as a lawyer in its international trade practice group. He will assist companies with their customs and trade matters, the firm said.

Iris Bennett, former cross-border investigations and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act attorney at boutique firm Smith Pachter, has joined Steptoe & Johnson as a partner in its Investigations and White Collar Defense Group, the firm announced. Based in Washington D.C., Bennett will tap her experience carrying out internal investigations over potential violations of the FCPA, the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Act, the firm said.

Angela Hofmann, former leader of the Eurasia Group's industrial and consumer corporate practice, joined Sandler Travis as vice president of the international trade and supply chain resiliency wing, the firm announced in an email. Hofmann's corporate executive experience also includes working as Walmart's vice president for international corporate affairs.

Akin Gump broadened its international trade practice with the addition of two former U.S. government officials and sanctions and export controls lawyers, the firm announced. Elyse Martin, former official at the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, and George Pence, former assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District of California, have joined the firm as senior counsel. While at OFAC, Martin served as the assistant director for Regulatory Affairs for two years and for over a year as chief of sanctions program implementation in the Sanctions Compliance and Evaluation Division, the firm said. As assistant U.S. attorney, Pence worked on investigations and prosecutions pertaining to export crimes, terrorism and other national security matters, it said.