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Washington, D.C. Practices
Although practicing in a wide range of legal
areas, our Washington office attorneys have particular depth of experience in
several areas of law including:
Transportation
The Transportation and International practice represents
transportation industry clients on all regulatory matters arising before
courts, Federal agencies and the U.S. Congress, including competition and
antitrust proceedings, safety and environmental regulation, licensing, joint
ventures, and international services. The members of the practice have
experience with regulatory issues involving all modes of transportation,
including aviation, mass transit, shipping, trucking, rail, and pipeline, on
behalf of major air carriers, ocean carriers, ports, integrated oil companies,
mass transit systems, and trade associations.
Mass Transportation
The attorneys in this practice have developed an extensive,
broad-based and highly specialized practice in the area of mass transportation
law and related fields. This practice is nationwide and includes the
representation of a range of mass transit clients, including city and county
governments, public transit agencies, private management companies, transit
suppliers, and transit consulting firms. We assist in the area of project
development and financing and have negotiated several full funding grant
agreements for major new start projects. The Firm represents clients before the
U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S.
Congress, various state departments and agencies, and the state and Federal
courts. Having devoted substantial attention to representing transit
authorities, the group is intimately familiar with practical operating and
management issues facing many transit agencies. Among the issues we address are
government procurement, state and federal regulatory requirements, section
13(c) and other labor matters, financing, federal grant requirements, and
construction contract administration and claims.
Maritime and Commercial Finance
The Maritime and Commercial Finance practice represents
borrowers, lenders, lessors, lessees, investment bankers and related parties in
all types of project and equipment finance transactions involving vessels,
barges, containers and railroad rolling stock. Our attorneys have extensive
experience in structuring and negotiating direct loans, single investor leases,
leveraged leases (both on and off-balance sheet), operating leases, synthetic
leases, mortgages, conditional sales agreements, pledges, multiple-layered debt
financings and government-supported financings (including Title XI U.S.
Government guaranteed ship and shipyard financing). In addition, this group,
working with attorneys in our Corporate Finance and Securities practice, has
considerable experience in the private placement of debt instruments in the
capital markets. Our attorneys also specialize in maritime regulatory matters
concerning qualifications under U.S. citizenship laws, transfers of U.S.
flagged vessels for registration outside of the U.S. and vessel documentation
and registration of mortgages in the U.S. and foreign countries.
International and Project Finance
We regularly work on international financings guaranteed or
insured by the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Many
of these transactions involve capital markets funding. Some have involved the
securitization of payment streams from U.S. Government guaranteed obligations.
In this area, the Firm usually represents large international banks and
investment brokerage firms.
International Trade, Investment
and Commerce
Our International Trade and Commerce practice provides
representation in a wide array of matters affecting the Firm's clients in the
United States and abroad. The Firm's attorneys include former officials of the
U.S. International Trade Commission, U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S.
Department of State, and strategists in international business. They have
in-depth expertise in:
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Import issues (antidumping, countervailing duty, Section 337, and Section 201
matters);
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Export issues (Section 301, counseling on market entry strategies into foreign
countries, international political risk management assessments defense against
adverse actions by foreign governments, assistance in foreign contracting, U.S.
economic sanctions and export controls;
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Intellectual property rights issues (international licensing and enforcement of
U.S. intellectual property rights);
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Structuring foreign business activities, including start ups, acquisitions,
joint ventures, distributorships and sales agencies;
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World Trade Organization issues;
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Financing issues involving U.S. Export-Import Bank, Overseas Private Investment
Corporation, and International Finance Corporation;
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Political and legislative issues;
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Customs matters;
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Taxation; and
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Immigration issues.
Utilities
The attorneys in the utilities practice area have
extensive experience in the representation of consumer-owned electric utilities
before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and state utility commissions,
and both state and federal courts. Practice area attorneys work with
nationally-recognized economic, engineering and other consulting firms, dealing
with virtually every electric utility issue of the past several decades.
Attorneys have negotiated and litigated issues concerning rates, terms of
service, transmission access, antitrust and power supply arrangements. The Firm
has extensive experience with issues arising out of electric utility
restructuring.
See Complete Utilities Practice Area Description.
Port Privatization
Thompson Coburn LLP (Thompson Coburn) is actively
involved in the privatization of ports throughout the world. Attorneys have
assisted the World Bank in the privatization of ports in Romania, Mexico,
Kenya, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. In addition, attorneys have served as
consultants for the Asia Development Bank and the Inter-American Development
Bank on privatization projects in Mexico, and India, and have provided port
privatization consulting services in Bulgaria for the American Bar Association,
as well as in Antigua for a private client.
Postal and Publishing
Practice attorneys have more than thirty years experience
representing clients in litigation before the Postal Rate Commission and in
legislative and regulatory matters dealing with postal rates and regulations.
Focusing on the representation of magazine publishers, we frequently deal with
postal officials to resolve problems related to service, rates and regulatory
compliance.
Legislative
Attorneys in the Washington, D.C. office have worked on
behalf of clients in dealings with members of the U.S. Congress, House of
Representatives and their staff. These efforts have included work with the
Senate Committees on Commerce, Science and Transportation; Finance; and Energy
and Natural Resources, as well as the House Committees on Homeland Security,
Ways and Means, Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Postal Service
Subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Reform.
Litigation
Thompson Coburn has an extensive and experienced litigation
department in excess of 150 lawyers that is dedicated to excellence and
achieving the client's desired results. Whether in Chicago, St. Louis, Southern
Illinois or Washington, the litigation group works as a team so that the
appropriate talent can be resourced no matter where an individual lawyer lives
or works. Thompson Coburn lawyers have participated in the longest jury trial
in history (in St. Clair County, Illinois) lasting longer than 600
days and the largest civil trial in history (in Washington, D.C.) with the
government seeking $280 billion from the tobacco industry. The Firm has
expertise in each of our offices to serve the specific needs of certain
clients. The Washington office has an extensive and well-experienced litigation
practice in its own right. It has members admitted to practice before the
United States Supreme Court, the courts of the District of Columbia, Virginia,
Maryland, Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania, California and New York, as
well as in most of the federal courts.
Washington litigators have argued appeals before the United
States Supreme Court, the District of Columbia, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth,
Sixth and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals as well as the appellate courts of
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington and Hawaii.
The attorneys in our Washington office represent a diverse
group of clients in a broad range of legal issues including the substantive
areas of antitrust, antidumping, business torts, breach of contract, commercial
finance, fraud, government contracts, intellectual property, information
technology, labor and employment, product liability, RICO, and securities law.
The attorneys in our Washington office also have successfully
handled cases across the country in state and federal courts and in the U.S.
Virgin Islands. Along with traditional litigation, our lawyers have spent
considerable time working with our clients in alternative dispute resolution,
whether in arbitration or mediation. They have significant experience with
administrative proceedings before federal regulatory agencies, including trials
before administrative law judges.
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