Marwa M. Hassoun

Hassoun is a co-leader of Arent Fox's national security practice, where she advises a range of U.S. and overseas companies on complex laws and international regulations that include civilian and military export controls and economic sanctions. She conducts audits and investigations into alleged criminal and civil breaches of U.S. trade control law and counsels on developing and enhancing trade compliance programs.

She is a member of the firm's strategic advisory committee, advising the executive committee on firm initiatives, and she works on issues related to women and historically disenfranchised populations in the law, including at UC Berkeley School of Law, where she studied.

"It's been a tough year," she said in mid-April of working remotely during the pandemic, "but I got vaccinated and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I actually went to a conference last week in Dallas--it was a first after a period that was the longest I have sat still in a long time."

Her office is slowly reopening. "At first only 20 percent of us will be allowed in. I think that office life is permanently changed now that people realize you don't have to be physically in the building to get work done."

As part of a massive compliance agreement by a European aerospace company with U.S. and offshore regulators over a bribery-for-contracts scheme, Hassoun co-leads an Arent Fox team in conducting an audit of the company's fulfillment of its obligations under U.S. export control laws.

"This project is taking up my whole life right now," she said of the audit, which often requires Hassoun to conduct 3 a.m. phone calls to accommodate interviewees on European time. The goal is the assessment of more than 15 of the aerospace company's sites worldwide as well as its enterprise-wide compliance program. "There's going to be nine weeks of interviews. The issue is violations of international arms trafficking regulations and the approval of the company's activities now by the U.S. Department of State."

"These days the audits and investigations are done virtually, though on-site is really preferable," Hassoun said. "There's always an element of the audited company trying to look good, and you can see the body language best in person. It's hard to read people on a screen wearing masks. On the other hand, you see people in their homes, with their dogs jumping on their laps, which makes things a little more personal. It's a tradeoff."

-- John Roemer