Benjamin H. Shanbaum

Benjamin H. Shanbaum concentrates his practice in customs and international trade matters. Mr. Shanbaum has a wide range of experience in counseling importers on their responsibilities to US Customs and Border Protection, including tariff classification and valuation of merchandise, country of origin marking and rules of origin, recordkeeping obligations, and obtaining preferential duty treatment under trade agreements and other special programs. He has assisted in conducting internal importer audits and reviews, and has spoken at numerous import compliance training seminars.

Mr. Shanbaum has also been involved with a variety of trade issues with different federal governmental agencies. He navigated a domestic manufacturer through a countervailing duty investigation on merchandise imported from China. He has worked on section 337 investigations on the protection of intellectual property before the International Trade Commission, handled antidumping-related inquiries before the Department of Commerce, and advised clients on compliance with “Buy American” rules accompanying government or other public procurement contracts.

Mr. Shanbaum also has experience advising importers on complying with recently amended consumer product safety laws. He has spoken at seminars on topics relating to the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act and its impact on the trade community.

Mr. Shanbaum earned his JD with high honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he also received a certificate in International and Comparative Law. Mr. Shanbaum was an executive articles editor for the Chicago-Kent Law Review, and he is an inductee into the Order of the Coif. Mr. Shanbaum is also an active member of the Chicago Bar Association’s Barristers Big Band, and performs regularly at legal and other events throughout the city of Chicago.

Mr. Shanbaum is admitted to the Illinois bar, and is also admitted to practice before the US Court of International Trade and the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, the American Association of Exporters and Importers, the Japan America Society of Chicago, the US-China Chamber of Commerce and the International Trade Association of Greater Chicago.