Harold Paul Luks

Harold Paul Luks is a non-lawyer specialist who has worked in the export control, customs and international trade fields for more than 37 years. For sixteen of those years, he was with the Washington D.C. law firm of Arnold & Porter, where he handled export control and international trade issues for U.S. and foreign corporations and advised foreign governments and foreign trade associations on U.S. legislative and regulatory developments affecting bilateral trade relations with the United States.

Mr. Luks also was involved in the drafting and implementation of bilateral free trade agreements.
He joined Feith & Zell P.C. in October 2000 and rapidly built a following of clients seeking assistance with a wide variety of export control and international trade-related issues.

In January 2002, Mr. Luks and a colleague from Feith & Zell formed a new firm – Poliner & Luks LLP.

Mr. Luks and D. Michael Cormaney then formed Luks Cormaney LLP in February 2010.
Representative matters include:

● Compliance investigations, including those related to mergers and acquisitions

● The preparation of voluntary and directed disclosures for submission to the Departments of State (ITAR), Commerce (EAR) and Treasury (OFAC sanctions) and related corrective measure

● Developing internal compliance programs with related manuals, policies and procedures

● Conducting training sessions for corporate executives, program managers, engineers/technicians and compliance personnel

● Preparing export licenses and agreements

● Drafting commodity jurisdiction determinations

● Customs matters (e.g., valuation, country of origin, compliance with free trade agreements, shipping procedures and required documentation)

Mr. Luks also advises on matters involving the acquisition of U.S. companies by foreign persons and notifications to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

Before his affiliation with law firms, Mr. Luks served in the Executive Branch as Senior Policy Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce where he addressed export control issues and the organization of trade functions within the Executive Branch.

He served in senior positions in Congress with the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy & Trade of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives where he was involved closely in the re-authorization of the Export Administration Act (EAA) and legislation concerning the Arms Export Control Act.

As Legislative Assistant to Senator Abe Ribicoff, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee’s Trade Subcommittee, Mr. Luks was involved in the development, drafting and approval of the Tokyo Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, and the EAA of 1979. He has published and lectured widely in the United States, Western Europe and the Middle East on these subjects.

Mr. Luks served as a member of the Presidents’ Export Council, Subcommittee on Export Administration (PECSEA), the senior advisory committee to the U.S. Department of Commerce on export controls.

He also served three times as an advisor to the National Academy of Sciences in 1984 on international competition in advanced technology, and in 1985 and 1987 on U.S. export controls, which has published his work on these topics.