COLUMBUS, Ohio — January 25, 2021 — Thompson Hine LLP is pleased to announce that Daniel Ujczo has joined its International Trade and Transportation practices as senior counsel in the Columbus, Ohio, office. He joins from Dickinson Wright PLLC, where he was the Canada-U.S. practice group chair.
“Dan’s unique qualifications and experience enable him to provide our clients with an insider’s perspective from all angles,” said Michael Wible, partner-in-charge of Thompson Hine’s Columbus office. “He is one of a handful of lawyers with both a Canada-focused practice and a U.S.-focused practice, and he has established a dynamic network of contacts through his government, private sector and academic positions. He will be an excellent resource for our clients.”
Ujczo provides comprehensive counsel across clients’ Canada-U.S., North American and global supply chains on matters including customs classification and compliance, utilization of preferential trade agreements such as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), tariff mitigation and exclusions, procurement issues such as Buy America/Buy American, and antidumping/countervailing duties. He also advises on negotiating transportation agreements, managing trusted trader and related security programs, and addressing port-of-entry issues.
His vast experience includes interpreting USMCA rules of origin and developing compliance regimes for companies in the automotive, advanced manufacturing, chemical, textile polymer and technology sectors. Ujczo also has represented a large agri-food association and retailers in trade negotiations, including under the USMCA, and serves as outside general counsel to a Canadian-U.S. real estate private equity fund leading one of the largest privately funded economic development projects in North America. In addition, he has experience designing and negotiating suites of master transportation agreements across all modes for large corporations and conducting training on these topics for their business teams.
Ujczo’s unique Canada-U.S. background encompasses serving in both countries’ governments, private practice and academia. As an officer in Canada’s foreign ministry, he worked toward improving North America’s borders and ports-of-entry and was the Managing Director of the Canada-United States Law Institute, an organization of cross-border corporate executives, in-house counsel, law firms, public policy experts, scholars and the media.
“With its long-standing experience in representing Canadian and U.S. clients across a number of key sectors and practice areas, and having offices throughout my home state of Ohio and in other major markets, Thompson Hine is an ideal platform for my practice,” said Ujczo of his decision to join the firm. “The ability to connect my clients operating on the front lines of global trade here in the heart of the Great Lakes region with the firm’s deep bench and extensive expertise in trade and transportation in Washington, D.C. is a perfect fit. My clients will benefit from having end-to-end solutions for their countless supply chain issues all under one roof.”
Ujczo also assists clients, economic development organizations and governments with cross-border investment and expansion projects, including coordinating legal counsel on matters such as corporate structuring, taxation, immigration, incentives, intellectual property and employment. He serves as outside general counsel to several cross-border companies, has served as a liaison between U.S. and Canadian government officials, and routinely assists companies in dealings with government regulatory agencies.
Active in the professional community, Ujczo is a life member of the Executive Order of the Ohio Commodores, which was established by former Ohio Governor James Rhodes to honor 60 Ohio business leaders who accompanied him on Ohio’s first international trade mission and to which more than 600 individuals have since been appointed to recognize their contributions to economic development in their communities and the state. Ujczo is also a national board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada, president of the Ohio-Canada Business Association and U.S. vice president for North American Strategy for Competitiveness. While based in Columbus, Ujczo is active throughout Ohio as a vice-president of the Henry T. King Jr. Greater Cleveland International Lawyers Group and an advisory committee member for the Ohio-Pennsylvania Stateline Export Initiative.
Ujczo is the fourth senior lawyer to join the Columbus office in the past year. He follows Marc Minor, whose experience includes serving as a securities bureau chief in the New York and New Jersey Attorneys General’s offices, senior counsel at FINRA, and director and enforcement counsel of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange; Eric Miller, former chief legal officer for Nationwide Funds Group, the mutual fund unit of Fortune 100 insurance company Nationwide; and Lindsay Karas Stencel, a leading venture capital lawyer.
Posted January 25, 2021
Source: Thompson Hine LLP
