Online CLE Economic Sanctions

Mr. Kassilke is a partner in the Transportation and Trade Practice Group at Cozen O’Connor and regularly advises clients on transactional and regulatory matters, focusing on air, ocean, and inland transportation, and international trade.  He regularly advises companies on U.S. export controls, trade sanctions, and customs regulations and has secured favorable resolutions of matters before the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Bureau of Industry and Security.  In addition, Mr. Kassilke has been involved with a wide range of commercial transactions, antitrust, and regulatory matters, and has successfully represented clients involved in commercial litigation before federal courts and administrative agencies.

Mr. Kassilke has a degree in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree in political science from Auburn University at Montgomery.  He received his law degree with honors from the George Washington University School of Law.

John E. Smith, former Director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), is co-head of Morrison & Foerster’s National Security practice, and a member of the Global Risk + Crisis Management group and Investigations + White Collar group. After serving 11 years as a top official at OFAC and three years as its Director, Mr. Smith brings to the firm unmatched experience in economic sanctions, enforcement, and national security.

Both in the United States and globally, clients turn to Mr. Smith for his deep experience and unique perspective on the complexities and escalating risk of U.S. and multilateral sanctions. He is a trusted advisor for clients navigating significant civil and criminal enforcement actions by U.S. and other government prosecutors and regulators. While serving as a top official at OFAC, Mr. Smith was centrally involved in all aspects of developing, implementing, and enforcing U.S. government sanctions requirements. As OFAC Director, he oversaw every OFAC enforcement case against financial institutions and global operating companies.

Michael Dobson, of counsel in Morrison & Foerster’s National Security practice group, has extensive experience advising clients on critical national security matters pertaining to U.S. economic sanctions, export controls, and various regulatory and compliance issues. Mr. Dobson most recently served as a Senior Sanctions Policy Advisor in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), where he was one of the U.S. government’s leading sanctions officials in the development and implementation of U.S. sanctions policy toward Russia and throughout the Western Hemisphere.

In his position at OFAC, Mr. Dobson developed strategies and tactics for achieving U.S. sanctions policy objectives, and applied that understanding of policy goals to shape executive orders, regulations, general and specific licenses, and interpretive guidance across multiple sanctions regimes. He also provided direction to interagency efforts to anticipate and mitigate unintended consequences of sanctions.

Jennifer Talbert is an associate in Morrison & Foerster’s Washington, D.C. office. Her practice involves assisting clients on matters relating to economic sanctions, banking and financial services, anti-money laundering, and money transmission and payments. Ms. Talbert assists clients in matters involving economic sanctions laws administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and other international trade matters involving export controls and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Ms. Talbert also advises financial institutions and financial services companies on regulatory compliance and government enforcement matters by various federal and state agencies. She is experienced in guiding clients on issues arising under financial services laws, including the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.