Mike is an accomplished international trade lawyer and represents clients in virtually all areas of import-export laws and regulations, whether it be traditional customs issues with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or related issues stemming from compliance with laws and regulations managed by other agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, etc.

He has 25 years of experience in the private sector and is a former partner of a prominent national law firm. He is an accomplished, well-known authority on U.S. and foreign preferential trade programs, including NAFTA, GSP, CBI and IFTA. He has excellent business acumen and extensive experience in international trade. Mike represents companies large and small in diverse industries, such as consumer products, agricultural/food products, automotive, textile and apparel, high tech, and others.

Mike is well versed in both proactive planning for companies, such as by helping them plan and implement strategies for mitigating the recent Section 301 tariffs on Chinese origin goods, as well as reactive representation by defending clients against all types of customs audits, investigations, penalties, seizures, detentions, liquidated damage cases.

In addition to the above, Mike is well-versed in supply chain security programs and has assisted numerous clients become approved Tier 1, 2 and 3 level participants in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program. He regularly assists clients with mapping and assessing their supply chain security practices and provides clients with training on C-TPAT compliance. Fluent in Spanish and has presented supply chain security, as well as trade compliance, seminars in English as well as Spanish. Mike has spoken on NAFTA rules of origin, as well as U.S. and Mexican customs procedures throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. He is the author of numerous articles on international trade issues.

Mike received his Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where his studies focused on international business and Latin America. He obtained his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, where he was a Notes & Comments Editor of the Fordham International Law Journal.

Mike is a member of the California and Illinois bars, and is admitted to practice before the Court of International Trade, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Brett Harris is an international practice attorney specializing in customs, international trade and export control issues. He is a graduate of New York University School of Law, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and Economics from Cornell University. Brett is admitted to practice before the courts of New York State and the District of Columbia, as well as the United States Court of International Trade.

Mr. Harris represents both domestic and multinational corporations in matters arising before the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection as well as numerous other federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Federal Trade Commission, etc. An expert on the laws and regulations affecting imported merchandise, Mr. Harris devotes his practice to structuring international trade transactions in order to legally minimize duty payments; such work concerns the valuation, tariff classification and country of origin of imported merchandise and often involves the preparation of binding ruling requests, protests, and other communication with U.S. Customs on these issues. In addition, he provides legal counsel in the drafting of voluntary disclosures and the negotiation and resolution of penalties, liquidated damages, and other enforcement actions taken by U.S. Customs. Mr. Harris has acted as lead outside counsel in numerous U.S. Customs focused assessment reviews as well as internal audits of corporate operations designed to maximize compliance and minimize potential liabilities. 

Over the past 14 years Mr. Harris has developed a particular expertise in the customs and international trade issues affecting international textile and apparel companies. In this regard, he has extensive experience

determining the tariff classification and quota category applicable to imported textiles and apparel, and has submitted numerous binding ruling requests to U.S. Customs requesting nondutiability of buying agency relationships and establishment of first-sale transaction structures.  

In addition, Mr. Harris is an expert in country of origin determinations for apparel, and has argued extensively before U.S. Customs in actions brought by that agency to verify production at factories in Hong Kong, China, Korea, Macao, Egypt and other countries in Asia, Africa and South America. Finally, Mr. Harris has a thorough knowledge of duty-preference programs such as NAFTA, AGOA, CBTPA and the US-Israel Free Trade Agreement, especially as these agreements apply to apparel production. 

During the course of his career Mr. Harris has also counseled Fortune 500 companies on export control issues, with particular emphasis on the International Traffic in Arms Regulations administered by the Department of State, the Export Administration Regulations administered by the Commerce Department, and country sanction programs administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. In this regard, he regularly provides commodity classifications, completes license applications and commodity jurisdiction requests for a variety of dual-use and defense articles. Mr. Harris has conducted internal investigations of multi-billion dollar corporations concerning foreign-national employee access to controlled technical data, drafted voluntary disclosures and designed enhanced compliance procedures to prevent future violations of export control laws.

Jorge serves as “Of Counsel” to Roll & Harris LLP, enabling us to counsel clients on all aspects of Mexican customs laws. He currently is the managing partner of the law firm Jorge Montanez and Associates (Bufete Jorge Montañez y Asoc. S.C.), in México City. Prior to establishing his own law firm, Jorge served over 18 years in the Mexican government in various positions. In the field of customs, he was the Deputy Director of Mexican Customs between 1989 and 1995, responsible for overseeing customs reforms and enforcement procedures. He also served as Deputy Director of NOMs for Mexico’s Department of Commerce, SECOFI, from September 1995 until December 1996.  As part of his government service, he worked on customs reforms regarding the Mexican Customs Law, the Miscellaneous Foreign Trade Rules and the establishment of interpretive criteria and operating standards for Mexico’s Customs Service.

He also participated in the drafting of customs procedures necessary for the implementation of NAFTA and Mexico’s free trade agreements with the Colombia and Venezuela.

Jorge also has been the primary external customs counsel to the National Maquiladora Association (Industria Maquiladora y Manufacturera de Exportación or “INDEX”) as well as a member of the Mexican Institute of Foreign Trade Executives, the Mexican Tax Law Academy and the Mexican Bar.He is registered as Foreign Legal Consultant at the California Bar and as Special Legal Consultant at the D.C. Bar.