New Jersey-based Am Law 200 firm Lowenstein Sandler is responding to clients' increasing anxiety about trade disputes by launching a new global trade and policy practice led by a former Baker Donelson partner.

Doreen Edelman, who was co-leader of the global business team at Baker Donelson, is bringing two attorneys and a trade analyst along with her to Lowenstein's growing Washington, D.C., office. The new global trade group joins antitrust and regulatory and insurance recovery as Lowenstein's third practice group based in the nation's capital.

“I thought the sooner I got there the better,” said Edelman, who has over 30 years of experience advising companies on export compliance, foreign investments and global expansion. “We wanted to be able to offer their clients a more complete regulatory counseling.”

Edelman said she welcomed the opportunity to bring her experience to the firm's private equity, hedge funds and technology clients, particularly those being served out of its Palo Alto, California, office.

“I've always felt that there was something missing from the due diligence deal work that didn't account for these trade issues,” she said, crediting “Mr. Trump” for putting those issues at the front of everyone's attention. 

“Now everyone is more apt to talk about Section 301 [the portion of the Trade Act that underpins tariffs on China]. dumping, sanctions, and how they can affect your business, that of your customers and your clients, and how to make adjustments to minimize those risks,” Edelman explained.

Lowenstein, which also has offices in New York and Utah, was not initially on Edelman's radar before she was introduced to the firm by Gary Klein and Alex Edelman of recruiting firm Klein Landau LLC. She thought it would make sense to bring her practice to a larger firm, and had discussions with a number of global players.

But she ultimately concluded that Lowenstein's technology, outlook and the relative youth of the firm's management was even more important, and that she could deliver a global outlook by maintaining her longstanding participation in the Terralex network.

“Lowenstein also recognizes it's a global marketplace,” she said. “Even if it's a U.S. deal, there's more and more foreign money and foreign investment.”

Doreen Edelman has represented international clients including the Sultanate of Oman, where she secured passage of the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement, and she also served as general counsel to the American-Turkish Council.

She started at Lowenstein on Oct. 17, accompanied by counsel Abbey Baker and associate Andrew Bisbas, as well as trade analyst Megan Bodie. The roughly 270-lawyer firm saw gross revenue rise 5.5 percent last year, to $270.6 million

“Whether it's new CFIUS requirements for foreign investments in U.S. businesses, secondary sanctions issues, or evolving export controls on technology, nearly every transaction we are seeing requires a command of the global trade landscape,” Lowenstein chairman and managing partner Gary Wingens said in a statement. “Doreen and her team provide our firm with world-class experience to help guide our clients through this increasingly complex area.”

A spokesman from Baker Donelson did not respond to a request for comment.

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