Robert Slack focuses his practice on economic sanctions, export controls, and other trade compliance matters.  Rob advises clients in a broad array of industries, including the financial, technology, energy, defense, manufacturing, and other sectors.  Rob has significant experience conducting global investigations and audits, designing and implementing export and sanctions compliance programs tailored to clients’ needs, and advising clients on compliance with U.S. sanctions, export, and other trade compliance rules.  Rob was selected as an associate to watch by Chambers USA in the International Trade: Export Controls & Economic Sanctions area in in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Clients appreciate Rob’s practical day-to-day guidance and his ability to manage large, complex cases and projects.  Rob regularly represents clients before the key export-regulating bodies, including the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

Prior to joining Kelley Drye as an associate, Rob was a law clerk with the firm and an export compliance analyst with Georgetown Economic Services (GES), Kelley Drye’s in-house economics and international trade consultancy.  Today, Rob and his colleagues in GES use sophisticated, highly efficient data analytics techniques to tackle complex legal issues, from large scale classification projects to investigations and audits involving millions of lines of data.
 

Economic Sanctions

Conducted a global internal investigation of compliance with U.S. sanctions regulations for a U.S.-based financial services company, resulting in a voluntary self-disclosure (VSD) process before the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Obtained required licenses from OFAC to ‘unblock’ a global manufacturing company and its assets following the imposition of U.S. Russia-related sanctions.

Assisted a money transfer company with the assessment of its OFAC compliance program and the roll out of enhanced policies and procedures related to SDN screening, personal remittance general licenses, reporting, and other sanctions issues.

Conducted an internal investigation of an e-commerce company’s compliance with OFAC and BIS regulations and managed the resulting VSD process.

Advised a major sports league on compliance with U.S. sanctions issues, including those related to the informational materials exemptions.

Counsel non-U.S. companies in a variety of industries, including in the metals and mining, shipbuilding, materials, manufacturing, and finance sectors, on compliance with secondary sanctions and the extraterritorial application of U.S. trade compliance rules.

Conducted global risk assessments and on-going quality assurance monitoring for an international financial services company.

Counseled a non-U.S. telecommunications company on compliance with U.S. sanctions, including the various telecommunications and related general licenses to OFAC’s regulations.

Counseled U.S. and non-U.S. companies regarding the wind down of transactions and operations following the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran and new primary and secondary sanctions on Russia and Venezuela.

Conducted an internal investigation and resolved the related enforcement matter for a chemical company regarding alleged diversion of products to Iran.

Counseled a global intellectual property services company on compliance with OFAC’s regulations, including the various general licenses applicable to patents and trademarks.

Advised companies on U.S. sectoral sanctions affecting the Russian financial and energy industries and targeted sanctions on Venezuela.

Conducted sanctions and trade compliance risk assessments during M&A due diligence processes for clients in a variety of industries, including the financial, energy, manufacturing, and technology sectors.

Assisted U.S. financial institutions with responses to administrative subpoenas from OFAC and other U.S. government agencies and with related enforcement matters.

Counseled a technology company on compliance with OFAC general licenses regarding services incident to communications over the internet.

Export Controls

Conducted a global internal investigation, VSD process, and follow-up audits for materials company regarding violations of the U.S. export control regulations administered by the Bureau of Industry & Security (BIS).

Advised manufacturers, exporters, and global distributors of U.S.-origin encryption equipment, software, and technology on compliance with the EAR’s classification, licensing, and reporting requirements.

Designed and conducted a 45-facility audit of a global manufacturing company for compliance with U.S. export control and sanctions rules, among other global auditing projects.

Conducted an internal investigation for an optics manufacturer resulting in a successful VSD process involving the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC).

Obtained required export licenses for manufacturers of unmanned aerial vehicles from U.S. export control agencies.

Conducted a global export control classification project for a manufacturer of capital equipment that involved the classification of millions of line items under the U.S. EAR, International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and nuclear regulations.

Obtained favorable jurisdictional and classification rulings from the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding non-U.S. nuclear power plant projects.

Advised technology and software companies on U.S. export control rules applicable to cloud computing platforms.
 

Named as an associate to watch by Chambers USA in the International Trade: Export Controls & Economic Sanctions area for 2017, 2018 and 2019.