Mark Lehnardt, Esq.*

Mark Lehnardt counsels U.S. and foreign producers, importers and exporters in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations and proceedings, and in related litigation and dispute resolution. He has led and supported investigation defense teams before the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce, with significant experience representing Chinese exporters. Driven to achieve client objectives, Mark views issues from his clients’ standpoint, considering the long-range effect of their decisions. Mark’s work developing novel substantive and procedural legal strategies, and careful dedication to client goals in the midst of ongoing government audits contributed to his former firm receiving Law360’s 2018 International Trade Group of the Year award. His work also contributed to the firm’s Band 4 ranking during his time at the firm in Chambers Global and Chambers USA from 2017 to 2021.

Following a two-year clerkship at the Court of International Trade, Mark spent four years as an attorney in the Department of Commerce, Office of Chief Counsel for Trade Enforcement and Compliance. He uses the extensive administrative law and litigation experience gained there to help his clients before the Department of Commerce, the Court of International Trade, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the WTO Dispute Resolution Body. Mark has lectured in law faculty settings in China, Turkey and the U.S., and has presented training and information to industry groups and foreign government officials from China, Turkey and Latin America. While in law school, Mark worked for a law firm in Lima, Peru, and interned in-house for a multinational nutraceuticals company where he oversaw international corporate, international trade and Latin American legal affairs, including matters in Mexico and Venezuela. 

• Developed theories and successfully argued that Commerce did not have authority to impose adverse facts available to exporter when Commerce had failed to adequately request specific information and did not provide the exporter with notice of deficiencies and an opportunity to remedy.
• Employed procedural mechanisms to enhance litigation position and argued against Department of Commerce, claiming that it could retroactively apply antidumping duty rates before issuing public notice. The U.S. Court of International Trade agreed, ordering the Department of Commerce not to collect duties retroactively.
• Developed and briefed novel substantive and procedural legal arguments, and scrutinized factual and economic evidence, in bet-the-company proceedings on behalf of the largest newsprint producer in the world, persuading the International Trade Commission to find no injury to the U.S. newsprint industry.
• Briefed and argued for enforcement of court judgment for a Chinese tire manufacturer when the U.S. Department of Commerce refused to follow the court's order in favor of the tire manufacturer. The Department of Commerce claimed that WTO proceedings superseded all domestic litigation. The Court of International Trade, however, adopted the argument that WTO proceedings did not supersede the issues raised on behalf of the tire manufacturer, and compelled the Department of Commerce to lower the tire manufacturer’s countervailing duty rate.

• Law360 International Trade Practice Group of the Year (2018)
• U.S Department of Commerce, Office of Chief Counsel for Import Administration: Attorney of the Year (2007)

• Customs and International Trade Bar Association (CITBA)
• Strategic Planning Committee (2016 to 2018)

International Trade

Antidumping and Countervailing Duties

Customs

Antidumping & Countervailing Duty Proceedings

District of Columbia Bar

Missouri Bar

Utah Bar (inactive)

Colorado Bar (inactive)

U.S. Court of International Trade

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri

Brigham Young University, JD

Brigham Young University, BA, Economics

English, Spanish