International Trade Group of the Year: Covington & Burling

Covington was named a 2017 International Trade Group of the Year by Law360. According to Peter Lichtenbaum, the Bombardier trade remedies case, which "presents very significant economic, legal, and political issues," was one of the group's biggest from the past year. "The company remains confident that the ITC will conclude that Boeing will not be harmed by the C-Series, in light of the very substantial evidence presented, including the company's decision to partner with Airbus to invest in U.S. production of the aircraft," Lichtenbaum said. 

Sturgis Sobin commented on another noteworthy case from the last year brought by U.S. Steel against a number of Chinese companies, the first price-fixing probe in more than four decades at the ITC. "One of our challenges was to assemble and effectively manage the right team to tackle these three very distinct bodies of law combined with very extensive discovery requests of our clients in China—all in a venue that moves extremely fast," Sobin stated. The firm was up against "very strong headwinds blowing in favor of protection of the domestic industry," Sobin added, but ultimately all three claims were defeated.

According to Lichtenbaum, what makes Covington's international trade practice stand out is its breadth and depth. Sobin added, "Covington's culture also enables us to work effectively as one team across many different offices, languages, and time zones."