Trade Commissioners Share Tips For Witness Testimony

Law360 covered Georgetown University Law Center's 44th annual International Trade Update, where Shara Aronoff served as a speaker on a panel that discussed the importance of face-to-face interaction with witnesses in trade investigations and offered advice for making the most of their participation.

According to Shara, clients willing to testify in trade remedy cases are often emotional, even indignant, while attorneys often lean into dramatics. Emphasizing the weight the ITC places on civility, Shara advised counsel to keep the tone of their arguments "constructive." She also advised counsel to work on developing their narrative and present the commissioners with a "roadmap" to the desired decision.

Shara and the other panelists, which included Chairman David S. Johanson and Commissioners Amy A. Karpel, Randolph J. Stayin, and Deanna Tanner Okun were all unified in their support for the commission's recent push to hear from a broader pool of attorneys — including junior counsel — during hearings. Shara discussed an idea for signaling junior colleagues' readiness to discuss certain topics during the sign-in process as a means to get more diverse voices into the hearing room.

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