Akin’s Market-Leading International Trade Practice Adds Three-Partner Team With Strong National Security and Cross-Border Compliance and Investigation Capabilities
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Ryan Fayhee, Roy Liu and Tyler Grove join Akin’s Washington, D.C. office in a period of complex foreign relations and political uncertainty, as well as an enforcement environment growing in intensity.
(Washington, D.C.) – Akin is pleased to announce that Ryan Fayhee, Roy (Ruoweng) Liu and Tyler Grove have joined the firm as partners in the Washington, D.C. office, further strengthening Akin’s cross-border compliance and investigations capabilities in an expanding criminal and regulatory enforcement environment. The trio intend to continue their focus on economic sanctions, export controls, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering compliance and investigations.
Fayhee is a former senior prosecutor and national security official with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). He draws upon a multidisciplinary skillset to assist corporations, boards of directors, audit committees and senior executives facing high-profile reputational risks and incident response, often involving U.S. and foreign regulators and enforcement authorities, the U.S. Congress and other political stakeholders, and the media. He also advises clients on strategic opportunities, governance and compliance best practices, acquisition due diligence, and national security reviews before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Fayhee maintains a Chambers-ranked trade sanctions practice and was previously named to Global Investigations Review’s elite list of the most respected sanctions lawyers in Washington, D.C. The Legal 500 has recognized him for “excel[ing] at leading and conducting investigatory work as a result of the ‘wealth of experience and insights’ he gained in his former position as a DOJ national security prosecutor.”
Liu is recognized as a leading attorney focused on U.S.-China trade-related matters. He primarily advises multinational corporations on economic sanctions, export controls, CFIUS and customs matters as well as related strategic considerations. He has extensive experience assisting Chinese companies involved in employment, intellectual property and international trade disputes before U.S. federal and state courts. He also counsels U.S. and Europe-based corporations on doing business with and in the Greater China region and in resolving increasingly challenging conflicts of laws issues.
Grove, who has been recognized by The National Law Journal and other publications as a rising star in the Washington, D.C. international trade bar, brings more than a decade of experience advising clients on the full spectrum of economic sanctions and international trade regulation and compliance. His practice focuses on complex internal investigations, enforcement, and self-disclosures; emerging controls on semiconductors and high technology; and foreign direct investment and CFIUS reviews.
Commenting on their arrival, Akin chairperson Kim Koopersmith said, “Ryan, Roy and Tyler have built elite practices that are ideally suited for today’s highly complex regulatory environment and create obvious synergies with our existing strengths across the firm, in particular with our market-leading sanctions and export control practice and government and congressional investigations team. Their remarkable track record in representing clients before key government stakeholders on their most complex cross-border matters highlights their strengths and enhances our capability to handle the most challenging matters our clients face. I am very pleased to welcome them to the firm.”
With a global footprint that includes offices in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and throughout the United States, Akin has extraordinary depth in cross-border investigations involving economic sanctions, export controls, anti-money laundering and anti-corruption laws and regulation.
“Ryan and I worked side-by-side for several years on a number of the highest-profile sanctions and export control investigations at the Department of Justice,” said Jonathan Poling, Akin’s international trade practice head. “Governments are signaling more enforcement in these areas. The market is seeing that occur. This group recognizes this reality and strengthens our ability to support clients engaged in trade globally, but also critically at the intersection of U.S. and China relations.”
“Akin is the ideal place for us to further grow our practice and connect our strengths to a global platform,” said Fayhee. “In addition to the firm’s existing depth in the international trade and government investigations groups and being home to so many partners and friends in the Washington and London offices with whom we have previously practiced, Akin’s lobbying & public policy and congressional investigations practices, which are market leaders in their own right, will enable us to provide clients with all of the advocacy and advice they require in complex, politically charged cross-border matters, something we are very eager to build on.”
About Akin’s International Trade Practice and Regulatory Work
Akin’s international trade practice comprises over 85 lawyers and advisors operating from offices in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and throughout the United States. The firm’s international trade team is highly regarded as a top-ranked practice, comprising lawyers and advisors with experience guiding companies, industries and foreign governments through detailed trade regulatory processes. This wealth of knowledge and experience of the firm’s international trade team is vital to providing informative and timely updates to clients on the fast-moving and evolving sanctions and regulatory landscape resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The team assist clients with issues involving International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Export Administration Regulations (EAR), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions, U.S. antiboycott laws, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) before the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; the International Trade Commission; the U.S. Departments of State, Treasury, Commerce and Justice and affiliated agencies such as the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Bureau for Industry and Security (BIS); the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the World Bank and other multinational development banks; World Trade Organization; the EU Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union; the EU Directorate General for Trade; EU member states’ national customs, export controls, economic sanctions and foreign trade administrations.
The firm’s broader regulatory section has more than 130 professionals covering antitrust, communications, cybersecurity, financial services, environmental, government procurement, health care, international trade, privacy and transportation issues.
Akin is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers and advisors in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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