Biography: Trade & Customs

Lisa A Crosby is a partner in Sidley's Washington, DC, office who concentrates in customs law, sanctions and export controls. She advises companies on NAFTA origin requirements, tariff classification of imported goods and sanctions administered by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. She has represented companies undergoing NAFTA origin verifications and customs audits, as well as companies involved in export control enforcement proceedings. In 2002, Ms Crosby was licensed as a customs house broker by the US Department of the Treasury.

Prior to joining the firm, Ms Crosby was an honours attorney in the office of the general counsel at the US Department of the Treasury, where she worked on a variety of international trade matters, including sanctions, customs issues and enforcement matters.

From 1987 to 1995, Ms Crosby worked as an import specialist for the US Customs Service. She began her career with customs at the port of Baltimore, where she classified, appraised and administered quotas for textile imports. In 1991, Ms Crosby transferred to customs headquarters in Washington, DC, where she managed the customs aspects of a variety of international trade programmes, including the Generalized System of Preferences, the United States-Israel Free Trade Area Agreement, the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act and the Andean Trade Preference Act. Ms Crosby also worked extensively on implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. While at customs, Ms Crosby was frequently invited to speak at seminars abroad for companies interested in exporting to the United States.

After graduating from law school, Ms Crosby served for two years as a law clerk to the Honorable Jaime Pieras, Jr in the US District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Ms Crosby has lived, worked and studied throughout Latin America, Europe and the Caribbean. She speaks Spanish fluently and has held a number of positions as an adjunct Spanish instructor. She received her JD, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center in 1995, her MA from Purdue University in 1986 and her BA, magna cum laude, from Linfield College in 1984. Admissions include the District of Columbia.