Perry S Bechky

Practice Areas

Economic sanctions (OFAC)

National security reviews of cross-border investment (CFIUS)

International trade law

International investment law

International arbitration and litigation

Career

Perry has thirty years of experience in international trade law, representing clients from about 60 countries on projects around the world. He has experience across a wide range of issues, in private practice, government, and academia.

Perry began his career at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he worked for the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC, the agency responsible for administering the major U.S. economic sanctions programs), the Customs Service, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Before joining BCR, Perry also practiced for over thirteen years at two global law firms, taught for five years at two universities, and ran his own boutique law firm for three years.

Perry has managed significant international projects before federal courts, federal regulators, and international tribunals. His projects have included cross-border litigation and arbitration, internal investigations, international negotiations, management of legal and political risks, national security reviews of corporate deals, expropriation claims under political-risk-insurance policies, regulatory proceedings, and dispute settlement under international trade agreements. His clients have included national governments, international organizations, individuals and small businesses, and leading businesses in agriculture, banking and finance, energy, manufacturing, real estate, services, and technology.

Perry has handled hundreds of economic sanctions projects, including civil penalty proceedings, compliance, counseling, expert testimony, internal investigations, interpretative rulings, licensing, and securities disclosure. His experience with sanctions extends beyond OFAC regulations to include such statutes as the Helms-Burton Act, the Iran Sanctions Act, and the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act, as well as international measures like UN Security Council resolutions and foreign "blocking statutes."

Perry has also handled a variety of other regulatory issues affecting international business, including national security reviews of transnational mergers and acquisitions by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) under the Exon-Florio Amendment, the Foreign Investment and National Security Act (FINSA), and the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA), as well as export controls maintained by the Departments of Commerce and State (EAR and ITAR) and trade policy.

Perry also has extensive experience representing clients in disputes concerning international law, including international investment law, international trade agreements, and sovereign immunity. He lived in Tokyo for six months, working intensively with the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) on World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement.

Perry drafted the U.S.-Hong Kong Policy Act (22 U.S.C. § 5701), which establishes the legal basis for U.S. relations with Hong Kong in light of its special status as a "special administrative region" of China.

Professional Memberships

Visiting Scholar, Seattle University School of Law.

American Society of International Law: Various positions over past decade, including Executive Council, Patron, Rapporteur on Economic Sanctions for Lviv Summit, and chair or co-chair of Caron Prize Committee, Interest Groups Committee, Dispute Resolution Interest Group, Research Forum, Practitioners' Forum, and "100 Ways in 100 Days" Task Force. Also organized various panels and events for ASIL, including panels on Cuba sanctions, Russia sanctions, and investor-state arbitration, and conferences and workshops on arbitration in Africa, investor-state arbitration, international dispute resolution, and general international law.

International Law Institute: Various lectures on ICSID, international investment law, international trade law, and CFIUS. Faculty of APEC workshop on international investment agreements. Course advisor on investor-state arbitration.

Bar Memberships: DC, California (inactive), Washington State (inactive), US Supreme Court, US Court of International Trade, and other federal courts.

Publications

Perry writes and lectures about economic sanctions, human rights, international arbitration, international investment, international law, international litigation, international trade, political risk insurance, and treaties. His publications and presentations are available at www.iti-law.com.

Expert in these Jurisdictions

USA

International law

Education

Awards

Work Highlights

Handled hundreds of sanctions projects. Obtained numerous OFAC licenses and interpretative rulings, including licenses unblocking millions of dollars of frozen assets, licenses authorizing valuable business transactions, and licenses preserving valuable properties. Handled internal investigations, voluntary self-disclosures, civil penalty proceedings, and subpoena responses. Routinely advise businesses on compliance with sanctions regulations. Successfully petitioned for the delisting of two sanctions companies, based on a commitment to a rigorous anti-corruption program, including the appointment of an independent monitor. Testified as an expert witness on U.S. economic sanctions in U.S. court and international arbitrations.

Negotiated a commercial and regulatory solution when the innocent buyer of Iraqi crude oil learned that the oil had been exported from Iraq in violation of the terms of the United Nations Oil for Food program

Sitting as an arbitrator in an investor-state arbitration administered by the PCA, and previously as an arbitrator in an international arbitration (ad hoc) arising from a joint venture

Obtained CFIUS approval for many cross-border investments, involving automobile, aviation, chemicals, construction, defense services, electronics, energy, metals, naval equipment, satellites, semiconductors, software, and telecommunications. Routinely advise both U.S. companies and foreign investors whether CFIUS regulations require CFIUS filings.

Won challenges against both Indonesian restrictions on trade in automobiles and U.S. antidumping duties on Korean steel under the WTO procedures for resolving intergovernmental trade disputes

Secured dismissal of a federal class action alleging that OPEC violated the U.S. antitrust laws, affirmance by the Eleventh Circuit, and denial of certiorari

Prosecuted claims successfully under political-risk-insurance (PRI) policies for the expropriation of investments in Argentina and India, including the first "lender-side" claim paid by the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the second largest expropriation claim paid by OPIC, and a multimillion-dollar arbitral award

Represented clients on various matters concerning bilateral investment treaties (BITs), international investment agreements, and investor-state arbitration

Developed and executed a strategy that allowed the buyer of a U.S. manufacturer of telecom equipment to address potential export control violations by the target company

Secured a stay under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) of a U.S. lawsuit against a Belgian client in favor of arbitration in Denmark, facilitating a favorable settlement

Wrote amicus briefs to the DC Circuit for the Mexican Government in cases about the constitutionality and implementation of certain provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

Worked pro bono for one month in Arusha, Tanzania at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, assisting the prosecution team with the trial of four accused architects of the Rwandan genocide