Joel K. Simon, managing senior partner of the firm, draws his Customs and International Trade Law expertise from more than thirty years in the field, beginning with his tenure as a law clerk for the Chief Judge of the United States Court of International Trade. He received a Juris Doctor degree from St. John’s University in 1968. Mr. Simon is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of International Trade, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. 

Mr. Simon has testified on numerous occasions before the Trade Policy Staff Committee (“TPSC”) with respect to retaliatory trade actions contemplated by the U.S. Trade Representative, as well as before Congressional committees with regard to governmental legislation and policy. He has represented clients before Binational Panels convened under the Canadian and North American Free Trade Agreements, including the first proceeding wherein a decision of the U.S. Department of Commerce was contested under the NAFTA dispute resolution procedures. 

He has served as Vice Chairman of the GSP Committee of The American Association of Exporters and Importers, and was the leader of a U.S.-China Trade Group Mission to China where he met with high-level officials to discuss trade issues, including China’s Most Favored Nation status. Mr. Simon lectures on Customs matters for trade organizations and universities. 

Mr. Simon is a member of the American, New York State, and Customs and International Trade Bar Associations, has lectured at various annual meetings on the International Trade Bar Association, and is Editor of Committee 20 newsletter.