Diego Ortega, former sanctions regulations adviser at the Office of Foreign Assets Control, has joined Faegre Drinker as a government and regulatory counsel, the firm announced. Ortega worked for over three years at OFAC, where he drafted and published regulations implementing U.S. sanctions authorities and general licenses.

Matt Cronin, chief investigative counsel for the House Select Committee on China, is leaving Congress for a job in the private sector, he announced on LinkedIn this week. Cronin began working for the committee in July 2023.

Meen Geu Oh, former DOJ senior trial counsel, has joined Dutch conglomerate Philips as senior counsel, Oh announced on LinkedIn. Oh worked at DOJ for over 11 years, including on international trade cases, among other matters. At Philips, Oh said, he will be working on a "broad range of contract and compliance issues."

Trade lawyers Sebastiaan Bennink and Jan Dunin-Wasowicz launched their European law firm, Bennink Dunin-Wasowicz, to counsel on export controls, sanctions and other trade compliance issues, they announced this week. The firm has offices in Amsterdam and Paris.

Jorge Vera, former senior counsel for trade and sanctions at Boeing, has joined the Washington, D.C., office of Jacobson Burton as of counsel, the law firm announced this week. Vera will advise on international trade, sanctions compliance, transactional issues and enforcement.

Ross Denton, a U.K.-based export control, sanctions and trade lawyer, has joined Akin’s London office as a senior counsel in its international trade practice, the firm announced on LinkedIn. Ross previously worked for Van Vael & Bellis.

Virginia Lenahan was named the chief international trade counsel on the Senate Finance Committee’s majority staff, committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced in an Oct. 3 emailed news release. Since joining the committee in 2019 as a trade counsel, Lenahan has worked on issues related to USMCA, the Inflation Reduction Act and more.

Covington announced last week that it opened a trade controls enforcement practice group to represent clients in sanctions and export controls investigations. The practice group combines the firm's trade controls regulatory practice and its white collar defense and investigations practice and will house teams in China, the EU, the U.K. and the U.S. Eric Sandberg-Zakian, a sanctions and export controls partner based in Washington, D.C., will head the practice group, Covington said.

Meghan Pearce, former federal policy director at tech advocacy group TechNet, has joined Steptoe as a senior international trade legislative assistant in the government affairs and public policy practice, Pearce announced on LinkedIn. Pearce started at TechNet in 2020, working up to policy director. Earlier, she worked as a legislative correspondent for Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.

International trade attorney Chris Clark is departing Squire Patton for DLA Piper, he confirmed with Trade Law Daily. Clark has worked as an associate at Squire Patton since 2018 and will join DLA Piper as an associate.