iNew ALJ and OUII director will have impact on future ITC investigations.
On September 23, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) announced that Sandra (Dee) Lord will join the ITC as an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), replacing Judge Robert K. Rogers, who retired from the ITC in June 2013. Judge Lord will preside over investigations into unfair methods of competition in the importation of products under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1337). Judge Lord is one of six ALJs at the ITC, and she has already been assigned at least four ongoing ITC cases (Investigation Nos. 337-TA-854, 859, 864, and 886). While all ITC deadlines are currently tolled during the current U.S. government shutdown, three of the cases she is taking over (the 854, 859, and 864 investigations) are expected to have evidentiary hearings scheduled just a few months after the ITC resumes operations.
Judge Lord joins the ITC after serving as an ALJ for the Social Security Administration’s Office of Disability Adjudication and Review. During her career, she has also served as a Special Master in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims; as a trial attorney in the Commercial Litigation Brand/Frauds section in the Department of Justice’s Civil Division; as an Assistant Counsel for Appellate Litigation at the Department of Labor; and in private practice.
Judge Lord joins Chief ALJ Charles E. Bullock as well as ALJs Theodore R. Essex, Edward J. Gildea, Thomas Bernard Pender, and David P. Shaw at the ITC.
In addition, on September 30, the ITC named Margaret D. Macdonald as Acting Director of the Office of Unfair Import Investigations (OUII). Macdonald joins the ITC after working in private practice, where she focused on section 337 investigations. The OUII plays a critical role in section 337 investigations, representing the public interest during all phases of a case—from the pre-filing review of a complaint through the ITC’s final determination. Macdonald will help shape OUII’s policies and positions in future investigations and provide leadership to more than a dozen staff and supervisory attorneys who make up the office.
