Clifford Chance has today announced that leading international trade regulatory and national security expert, Renée Latour, will join its US litigation, regulatory and enforcement practice as a partner based in its Washington, DC office.

Latour adds her nearly 15 years of experience in matters involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), and the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) economic sanctions, to a leading US team that has been involved in many of the most significant trade controls cases in recent years. Latour joins from Greenberg Traurig.

US Litigation & Dispute Resolution leader and Co-head of the firm’s Global Risk Team David DiBari says, “We are thrilled to add Renée to the team and expect her to take a leadership role in the continued growth of the international trade controls and national security practice. Without doubt, the world’s trade relationships and proliferation of sanctions regimes will continue to impact international commerce. Identifying, understanding and managing these risks will be essential for our clients, and we expect Renée to play a significant role in proactively resolving the increasing global client demand across industry sectors.”

This announcement continues the firm’s strategy to support the growing success of its US capabilities as an important foundation of the global team. This addition follows the recent international lateral partner hires (Daan Lunsingh Scheurleer, Christine Gärtner, and Paul Tan (Cavanagh Law). The global L&DR practice has also promoted 13 lawyers to partner in the past two years. In the US this investment has strengthened the team with the return of counsel Tomislav Joksimovic in New York earlier this month, which followed the May 2020 promotion of L&DR partner John Friel, the May 2019 promotion of Michelle Williams, and the lateral hires of Peter Mucchetti (March 2020) and Celeste Koeleveld (2018).

Latour, commenting on his recent hire offers, “I am excited to be joining Clifford Chance and a deep team in international trade controls expertise and experience. The critical nature and consummate client demand for sophisticated advice on international trade controls and national security has grown significantly in the last several years, a trend that we expect to continue. The global reach of Clifford Chance provides a unique platform by which to support and assist clients as they navigate conflicting national regimes and political risk in pursuit of their international business goals. In addition, Clifford Chance’s truly collaborative and collegial culture assures the highest level of client service. I am so pleased to lend my skills to such an exceptionally talented team.”

The firm is known for advising on some of the highest-profile matters in the market; in March 2020, delivering its Report on an extensive anti-money laundering and OFAC sanctions investigation into major Swedish bank Swedbank AB (publ) to the Swedbank Board of Directors. The firm also successfully argued United States v. Hoskins in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, obtaining a landmark ruling limiting the scope of the FCPA as it relates to foreign nationals and corporations.