BIO |
Deanna Tanner Okun is the managing partner at AMS TRADE LLP. Deanna is an international trade lawyer relying on her former experience as a US ITC Commissioner and Chair to provide legal and strategic international trade policy advice to steer companies through the intersection where innovation confronts barriers, such as intellectual property theft, unfair trade practices, or regulatory hurdles.
Deanna’s practice involves all aspects of unfair trade litigation and trade remedy advocacy. Her Section 337 work includes all stages of litigation at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) from pre-institution consultation to post-remedy enforcement with Customs and Border Protection (CBP). She also represents companies in Title VII antidumping and countervailing duty investigations before the ITC and Department of Commerce (DOC). Deanna’s work in trade remedy proceedings on behalf of U.S. companies extends to previously rarely-used trade statutes, including Section 201, 232, and 301 investigations. Deanna participated in one of only two Section 201 investigations in the past twenty years, winning a successful remedy for her client. She works closely with contacts in the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of the government to create innovative solutions to her clients’ legal and business challenges.
Deanna has extensive experience as a top administrator, regulator, enforcer, legislative aide, and lawyer. She served two terms as Chairman during her twelve years of service as a member of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). During her tenure as a Commissioner, she ruled on hundreds of cases involving allegations of patent, trademark, and copyright infringement as well as other types of unfair acts such as trade secrets. As Commissioner, she was involved in numerous antidumping and countervailing duty investigations and participated in almost all of the recent global safeguard investigations under the Trade Act of 1974, including investigations under Section 201 and the China-specific safeguard investigations under Section 421. Prior to her appointment to the ITC, she served as counsel for international affairs to U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski, Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and senior member of the Finance and Foreign Relations Committees, and practiced international trade law with a large DC-based law firm.
In 2012, Deanna was named the Outstanding Woman of the Year by the Association of Women in International Trade, a chapter of the Organization of Women in International Trade. She has served on the Federal Circuit Advisory Council since 2013. In 2019, for the seventh consecutive year, Managing Intellectual Property named Deanna one of the Top 250 Women in IP. Deanna is also on the 2021-2022 USMCA Binational Panel Roster.
Duke University School of Law, J.D., with honors
Executive Editor, Alaska Law Review
Utah State University, B.A., magna cum laude
District of Columbia
Pennsylvania (Inactive)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
American Intellectual Property Law Association
American Bar Association
Customs and International Trade Bar Association (Board Member, International Trade Committee Co-Chair, and 2022-2023 Treasurer)
Federal Circuit Advisory Council
Federal Circuit Bar Association
ITC Trial Lawyers Association
2022-2023 Roster for USMCA Binational Panels (U.S.) (roster member since 2020)
Trade Policy Forum
Washington International Trade Association
The Association of Women in International Trade
2022-2023 Roster for USMCA Binational Panels (U.S.)