Regulatory

Sanctions and Export Enforcement

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Overview

Gibson Dunn uses its unparalleled expertise to help clients successfully navigate the increasing global enforcement focus on sanctions and export controls.

Enforcement agencies in the United States and throughout the world are increasingly prioritizing their sanctions and export enforcement efforts. What previously had been a discrete area of regulatory risk for companies now carries the possibility of significant civil and criminal enforcement from global regulators. Because of this enforcement focus, companies, financial institutions, and organizations, both foreign and domestic, require experienced advisors to ensure their enforcement risk is managed and mitigated effectively.

Our team is co-led by former senior officials from the three U.S. agencies with primary responsibility for sanctions and export enforcement – the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the Department of the Treasury, and the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the Department of Commerce, which also includes the Office of Antiboycott Compliance (OAC). The group, alongside the firm’s broader International Trade Advisory and Enforcement, National Security, and White Collar Defense and Investigations practices, is supported by lawyers throughout the world – in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia – who have deep experience handling all aspects of sanctions and export enforcement. These matters are increasingly multi-agency and multi-jurisdictional in scope. Whether a company needs to evaluate its existing compliance program, conduct an internal investigation, decide whether to make a voluntary disclosure, or defend against an enforcement action, our industry-leading counsel are available to advise you.

Areas of Focus

Sanctions

Export Controls

No other firm can match Gibson Dunn’s level of expertise in advising clients on sanctions, export controls, and antiboycott matters:

We believe that companies with robust, responsive compliance programs have a competitive advantage. They can pursue opportunities that others overlook. A strong compliance program is also a pillar of an effective response to enforcement. Leveraging our credibility with leading authorities and our command of relevant regulations, we help clients develop integrated, business-savvy compliance systems to mitigate risk across national security sectors and across agencies. We provide sophisticated but practicable guidance on the implementation of effective, risk-based compliance measures to address sanctions, export controls, dual-use and military technologies, and antiboycott compliance.

Our lawyers have extensive global experience across Asia, Europe, the Gulf, and the Americas. When an internal investigation is necessary, we pair lawyers with sanctions and export control expertise with white-collar specialists to create knowledgeable and effective global investigative teams. We draw on cross-sector and cross-jurisdictional investigations experience to develop and execute defensible and compelling investigation plans that identify root causes, inform corrective action development, and help to rebuild agency confidence in our clients. Our attorneys are experts in navigating the compliance expectations of the Bureau of Industry and Security (under the Export Administration Regulations), the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations), the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and the DOJ’s National Security Division.

The question of whether to make a voluntary disclosure to a government enforcement agency—or whether to make simultaneous disclosures to multiple agencies—is challenging, complex, and highly consequential. With former senior leaders from all major U.S. trade regulators, including individuals deeply involved in creating or updating the corporate enforcement policies for their respective agencies, our team is uniquely positioned to advise on the cost-benefit analysis of a disclosure.

Our team has successfully handled scores of voluntary self-disclosures. We have also successfully counseled numerous clients on situations where disclosures were ultimately not made. In both cases, we have helped our clients identify the root causes of their compliance gaps, implement effective remediation strategies that reduce the risk of issue recurrence, and provide the potential for a significant penalty mitigation or declination.

Our lawyers have represented multinational corporations and financial institutions, in the United States and abroad, in some of the most legally complex and sensitive enforcement actions involving export controls, sanctions, and other national security regimes, including those involving artificial intelligence, sophisticated technologies (such as semiconductors), fintech, digital services, and supply chain risks and management. Our work includes subpoena responses, formal and informal presentations to agencies, administrative and legal challenges to agency actions, and settlement negotiations. Should settlement prove unworkable, Gibson Dunn’s trial teams are unmatched. In recent years, no firm has had more matters resolved before U.S. trade regulators. Few firms can match our global presence, comprehensive experience and approach, and deeply talented team.