Nicole D’Avanzo’s practice focuses on U.S. law and policy affecting international trade and business, including sanctions programs, export control law, antiboycott law, antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings, anticorruption laws and customs law. Ms. D’Avanzo also provides counsel on the interpretation of treaties such as NAFTA, as well as on dealings with international entities such as the World Trade Organization.
Ms. D’Avanzo has assisted clients in various industries to litigate trade-related cases before the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Commission, Court of International Trade and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She has assisted clients in developing and implementing compliance programs and strategies and in minimizing international trade compliance liabilities in mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. In addition, Ms. D’Avanzo has experience drafting voluntary disclosures, license applications, reports and other submissions to relevant U.S. government agencies, including the Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Department of State Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security and Customs and Border Protection. Ms. D’Avanzo also prepares arguments to mitigate enforcement actions at U.S. government agencies, analyzes the classification of items for customs and export control purposes and constructs policy arguments to present to the U.S. trade representative and U.S. Congress.
Ms. D’Avanzo graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in political science from Villanova University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 2006 she received her J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was an articles editor on the Michigan Journal of International Law and a teaching assistant in the Legal Practice program for first-year law students.
Prior to joining Akin Gump, Ms. D’Avanzo served as a law clerk to the Honorable Evan J. Wallach of the United States Court of International Trade.
Ms. D’Avanzo is a member of the New York and District of Columbia bars.