Michael Parker, a former official at both the Justice and the Treasury departments, has joined Ferrari & Associates as counsel heading up the firm's money laundering and sanctions practice, the firm announced Dec. 1. Parker was previously a sanctions investigator and later a chief in the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s enforcement division before joining DOJ, where he prosecuted transnational crime and money laundering violations.

Eric Choy, deputy assistant director of CBP's Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate, is now the acting director, a CBP spokesperson said. The previous director, Ana Hinojosa, recently retired (see 2111010041).

Arent Fox and Schiff Harden announced on Dec. 1 that they will be merging, creating one of the larger law firms in the U.S. with over 600 lawyers and policy professionals, the firms said. Going by ArentFox Schiff, the firm will be based in the following seven U.S. cities: Washington, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco and Ann Arbor, Mich. The firm will be led by Chair Anthony Lupo and Co-Firmwide Managing Partners Cristina Carvalho and Joseph Krasovec. The combined entity will offer a greater depth of experience in practice areas including "Bankruptcy & Financial Restructuring, Complex Litigation, Government Relations, Intellectual Property, International Trade & Investment, Private Clients, and general regulatory counseling," the firms said.

Christian Ford, former deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy, has joined DLA Piper as a partner in the Washington, D.C.-based litigation practice, the firm announced. Previously serving in multiple roles at DOJ and as counsel at the Defense Department, Ford oversaw a portfolio that included national security, law enforcement, terrorism and violent crime prevention, the firm said. He also worked as a prosecutor in DOJ's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, managing investigations affecting national security.

Boies Schiller announced the opening of a new office in Milan along with the hiring of three lawyers who have joined as the office's founding partners. The trio is Luigi Macioce, Alessia Allegretti and Stefano Zonca, all of whom made the move to Boies Schiller from Italian law firm R&P Legal. Zonca has "significant experience in international trade law and competition," the firm said. Joining the founding partners are 12 other attorneys who will move to the Milan office.

Julia Nestor, former federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, joined Reed Smith as a partner in the New York office, the firm announced. Nestor will work in the Global Regulatory and Investigations practice, where she will continue her focus on anti-bribery and corruption, trade and banking compliance and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act sanctions, the firm said.

Cross-border transaction attorney Robert Kossick has joined Harris Bricken's Washington, D.C.-based international trade practice, the firm announced. A licensed customs broker, Kossick has experience in "import compliance and enforcement, export control and economic sanction, and supply chain security issues," Harris Bricken said. Kossick has worked at a variety of firms in Florida, Texas and Washington state, as well as internationally, over the past 25 years.

Akin Gump promoted export controls and economic sanctions senior counsel Kim Myers to partner in the Washington, D.C., office, the firm announced. In her practice, Myers helps clients obtain required authorizations, identify opportunities to implement compliance solutions and "operationalize trade compliance programs," the firm said.

Bridget Reineking, former Treasury Department official, has joined Cooley as special counsel in the international trade and Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. practice, the firm announced. As a senior counsel in the Office of the General Counsel at Treasury, where she directed the office's national security work, Reineking helped implement the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018. At Treasury, she also was lead counsel for the Office of Investment Security, Cooley said.

FTI Consulting hired Brian Papp, previously staff director on the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness, as a managing director in the government affairs practice, FTI said.