Mandy Edwards Kirschner

Ms. Kirschner is Of Counsel for the firm’s Los Angeles office with over ten years practicing international trade and U.S. Customs law. She enjoys working with companies of all sizes to: strengthen global trade compliance, minimize duty liability, manage import controversies and navigate the administrative process with customs.  Ms. Kirschner’s efforts have achieved millions of dollars in duty savings and penalty mitigation for clients.

She works with importers and manufacturers on issues, such as tariff classification (and engineering), customs value, country of origin and marking determinations, free trade agreement qualification and partner government agency issues. She strategizes with clients to reduce the impact of §301 (China) tariffs and antidumping / countervailing duties. She is proficient in customs procedures, such as filing binding ruling requests, prior disclosures and protests. Ms. Kirschner routinely resolves seizures and penalties with FP&F and customs attorneys, especially intellectual property rights seizures and §1592 penalty cases. She successfully litigated cases at the Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, involving tariff classification and country of origin marking

In 2016, Ms. Kirschner worked for Ernst & Young as a global trade consultant assisting multinational companies with issues surrounding cross-border movements of goods.  She helped businesses mitigate and defer customs duties with tax planning. Through internal audits and compliance manual reviews, she strengthened the import compliance of companies. For several months, she performed day-to-day tariff classification for a major automobile manufacturer. She presented seminars and trainings on tariff classification, importing basics and trade related due diligence in M&A.

Representative client industries include food products, consumer products, machinery, industrial and manufacturing materials (e.g. wood).

During law school, she interned at the International Trade Commission, US Patent and Trademark Office and Court of Federal Claims.

Education

• George Washington University Law School, Juris Doctorate – 2006
• University of California at Santa Barbara, B.S. Biological Sciences – 2001

Representative Cases

• JBLU, Inc. v. United States, 813 F.3d 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2016)
• Infantino, LLC v. United States, 36 ITRD 1534 (Ct. Int’l Trade 2014)
• National Presto Industries, Inc. v. United States, 783 F. Supp. 2d 1287 (Ct. Int’l Trade 2011)

Bar Admissions

• State Bar of California
• U.S. District Court Central District of California
• U.S. Court of International Trade
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Professional Associations

• Women in International Trade
• Foreign Trade Association
• LA Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association