Marwa M. Hassoun

Hassoun leads Arent Fox LLP’s export controls and sanctions group firm-wide and the firm’s international trade practice on the West Coast. Only a handful of export control lawyers operate in California. Most in the field are based in Washington, D.C.

“I like the sunshine. I like it better here than in D.C.,” she said. “Fortunately, I’ve been able to develop enough work to make it happen for me here.”

Born Palestinian, she and her family emigrated to the U.S. when she was young.

“I learned English watching Sesame Street,” she said.

Her birth language came in handy when an export controls partner at a former firm needed her Arabic skills. She got interested in the field even though it wasn’t then very popular.

“But people now come out of law school wanting to do international trade work,” she said. “The biggest challenge now is in keeping up with all the regulatory changes.”

Over the course of a few weeks this spring, Hassoun pointed out, the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Venezuela and tightened the Cuba trade embargo.

“The trade wars have affected so many U.S. companies,” she said, “and there have been major changes in the law related to foreign investments in the U.S.”

Helping clients keep up with the labyrinthine regulatory environment, she and a law partner were planning a May webinar on the alphabet soup—CFIUS, FIRRMA, ECRA—surrounding foreign investment screening and emerging technology controls. The acronyms stand for the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act and the Export Control Reform Act.

Meanwhile, major clients seek Hassoun’s counsel on export control and sanctions matters. For a major technology company, she is developing and implementing a compliance program around the client’s contract to supply the U.S. Army with up to 100,000 augmented reality headsets for training and combat purposes.

Hassoun assigned an associate to work at the client’s headquarters on the project, which involves ensuring compliance with national security laws. The project launched in January. She said she’s disappointed that she has not yet been able to try one of the new headsets.

“The associate has, but I have not. But I’m going there soon, and I am insisting that I be allowed to try one.”

That’s an aspect of her work she really likes.

“My favorite part of the job is getting to see really cool stuff,” she said. “I once got to visit a grenade manufacturer here on the West Coast. There were underground bunkers where the devices were made. They would not let me try one, though I thought it would look great on my desk. I suppose it was for the best.”

—John Roemer