Law360 Quotes Akin Gump Trade Partner Bernd Janzen on Return to In-Person ITC Hearings

For its article "In-Person ITC Hearings May Lose Remote Participants' Input," Law360 has quoted Akin Gump international trade partner Bernd Janzen. The article discusses how stakeholders located far from the International Trade Commission's hearing room would, once again, have to travel to participate in hearings-something that the all-remote hearing framework established during the pandemic had made unnecessary.

Janzen said that a return to the hearing room allows for monitoring of a case's atmospherics, something that is difficult when participants are onscreen only: "There's a lot more to look at, and so, therefore, a lot more to absorb. What are the commissioners doing [while they're] sitting up there? Are they talking actively with their staff or not? Who's leaving the room? Who's coming back? And just the level of buzz around a given presenter."

He also deemphasized the limitations of in-person hearings: "I have always had the impression that for parties that care enough to participate, they're going to care enough to travel."