Pamela D Nieto
International Trade and Immigration
At various times, a half-dozen sovereign governments have engaged Baker Hostetler international trade lawyers to work on their behalf to address international trade problems. Baker Hostetler attorneys handled all international matters in the United States for the Gouvernement du Québec for a decade, achieving unparalleled dismissals of subsidy claims during the most demanding years inaugurating the Free Trade Agreement Between Canada and the United States, as well as NAFTA. Those lawyers defeated claims against more than two dozen government programs in nearly a dozen different government agencies. Similar favorable outcomes have been achieved for other foreign governments and for many international enterprises.
Many commercial and individual parties and trade associations from all over the world have called upon Baker Hostetler's creative services, and the firm has helped enterprises large and small. The focus is on quality and service, and although there are larger international trade law firms, Baker Hostetler lawyers have helped some of the world's largest corporations solve international trade problems.
The International Trade Practice has been so successful with trade problems that clients frequently return for other services from the group and from other lawyers in the firm. Baker Hostetler has become outside general counsel to a number of companies, foreign and domestic, that came to the firm originally to have a trade dispute resolved.
Although the Baker Hostetler International Trade Practice displays a decided tilt toward free trade and imported goods and services, it is also experienced in assisting domestic companies and associations combating unfair trade, whether in a surge of low-priced wheat gluten, steel tubes restricted by the Steel 201 safeguard, cemented carbide tools and dies, lawn and garden steel fence posts or even sparklers. Such assistance has been provided under Sections 201 and 332 and in countervailing duty and antidumping cases. The team will help U.S. companies and associations whenever trade, pretending to be free, is clearly not fair.
Our Trade, Customs and Immigration Team boasts of having litigated a full course meal—on behalf of imports of wheat gluten (essential for bread) under Section 201, beer (under Section 301), pork (countervailing duties), apples (Section 332), and a variety of other agricultural products including alfalfa, UHT milk and live swine (under various trade provisions). The team has been equally effective in market and non-market economies.
In addition, the team has defended imports in a full range of industrial and other products, including Canada's softwood lumber, pure and alloy magnesium from Canada, various steel products from several countries, Mexican cement, nitrocellulose from Japan, fuel ethanol from Brazil, steel from South Africa, manganese sulfate from China, oscillating and ceiling fans from China and cigarette lighters from China. The team has won significant victories assuring the trade flow of all these products.
Visit our China-U.S. Trade Law blog for the latest information and insight on active trade disputes.
Immigration
We assist clients with business immigration issues, including employment of foreign nationals and compliance with employer sanctions and anti-discrimination provisions of immigration law. Our experience enables us to determine which visas are most likely to be approved for a client's needs, where to file the petition and how to present the alien's credentials in the most favorable light. Our multilingual capabilities include Chinese (Mandarin), Czech, French, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian and Spanish.
We have successfully negotiated complex immigration agency restrictions in the United States and abroad, including attainment of H-1B visas for professional specialty-occupation workers, L-1 visas for intra-company transferees, E visas for treaty-traders and investors, J visas for foreign exchange visitors, O visas for people of extraordinary ability and P visas for professionals in arts and sports. We also have experience in I-9 compliance and family-sponsored permanent residency petitions.
We have handled hundreds of permanent residence visas (“green cardsâ€) for our clients, including permanent residence petitions based on multinational manager petitions (L-1A visas), permanent residence petitions based on approved labor certification applications (H-1B, L-1B and E visas) and permanent residence petitions based on “national interest†or “outstanding researcher†petitions. Our experience encompasses the “regular†green card process, the reduction in recruitment (“RIRâ€) process and now the new PERM process.
Representative Experience
* Our lawyers have a global reputation for integrity, hard work and excellent results for clients on five continents, having litigated or managed trade disputes in several countries under foreign laws and having practiced in every forum involved with international trade in the United States.
* Our multilingual trade team is skilled in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish and Tagalog.
* Our lawyers are well known and respected in all courts and arbitral tribunals involved in international trade—including the Court of International Trade; the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; NAFTA Binational Panels, and WTO Dispute Resolution Panels.
* Our lawyers are well known and respected in all of the agencies involved in international trade—including: the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services; the Consumer Products Safety Commission; the Customs and Border Protection Bureau; the Departments of Commerce, State, Homeland Security, Agriculture, Justice, Treasury, Defense, Transportation and Labor; the Federal Trade Commission; the Office of Management and Budget; the Office of the United States Trade Representative; the United States International Trade Commission and the White House.
* Our immigration practice—the movement of people complementing the movement of goods and services—typifies Baker Hostetler's approach to meeting client needs, providing immigration assistance to individuals and to some of the world's largest corporations.
* We litigate to win. We settle only on the best possible terms for clients.
Pamela D Nieto
Baker Hostetler
1000 Louisiana St #2000
Houston TX 77002-5018
Tel: 713 646-1372
Fax: 713 751-1717
E-mail: pnieto@bakerlaw.com
Practice Strengths
* Customs and Export Controls
* International Trade and Immigration
* International Transactions
Pam Nieto’s practice is focused on International Trade and Business Immigration matters. Ms. Nieto assists clients in all aspects of import and export matters, from providing guidance on compliance strategies and preparing commodity classification and ruling requests to formulating responses to enforcement actions, including seizures, penalty and liquidated damage cases. She offers analysis and advice on the use of preferential trade programs and on resolving classification, valuation and marking issues. Ms. Nieto also works with her clients in preparing and submitting license applications as well as voluntary disclosures.
Ms. Nieto has extensive experience in assisting clients in meeting their business immigration needs, whether a business desires to transfer an employee from an office abroad, or simply needs to hire a foreign national to fill a vacant position. She handles the full range of nonimmigrant visa matters, including H-1Bs (specialty occupation), L-1s (intracompany transfer), E-1s (treaty trader), E-2s (treaty investor), TNs (Treaty Nafta) and O-1s (extraordinary ability). She also handles employment-based immigrant visa matters. In addition, Ms. Nieto assists her clients in setting up compliance programs, including proper H-1B public information files, as well as I-9 employment verification programs.
Ms. Nieto is a member of the State Bar of Texas (International Law Section); the Houston Bar Association (International Law Section); the American Bar Association (International Law Section, Customs Law Committee, International Trade Committee and the Export Controls and Economic Sanctions Committee); the American Immigration Lawyers Association; the Texas Aggie Bar Association; the Association of Women Attorneys in Houston and the U.S.-Mexico Bar Association. She is also a member of the Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT) - Houston Chapter where she serves as a Board Member/V.P. of Legal Affairs and Treasurer. In addition, Ms. Nieto is a member of the College of the State Bar of Texas and she is a regular volunteer with the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program. Ms. Nieto is conversant in Spanish.
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