Vanessa Patton Sciarra is a member of the Business Law section at Holland & Knight in the Miami office. She practices in the area of International and Cross-Border Transactions with a particular emphasis on the importation and exportation of products. Her representation of domestic and foreign companies includes advising them on mergers and acquisitions, licensing and representation agreements, and numerous types of distribution arrangements. She has extensive experience advising companies on the international trade aspects of their transnational operations and on the implementation of compliance programs in the international trade area.
Formerly an Assistant General Counsel with the Office of the United States Trade Representative in Washington,D.C., Ms. Sciarra has significant experience in the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), particularly, with respect to services, investment and dispute settlement obligations. Ms. Sciarra served as legal counsel during the negotiation of the General Agreement on Trade Services (GATS) and participated in the drafting of the Uruguay Round implementing bill. Ms. Sciarra also has extensive experience in bilateral services and investment issues, including financial services, professional services, media and audiovisual services, transportation services, and taxation of services. She has delivered numerous speeches on such topics as GATS, NAFTA, and International Trade in Services.
From 1989-1992, Ms. Sciarra was a trial attorney with the United States Department of Justice (Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, International Trade Section) in Washington, D.C. In this position, Ms. Sciarra defended the United States in cases involving antidumping duty law, countervailing duty law, customs matters and government contracts. She prosecuted civil cases on behalf of the U.S. Customs Service and regularly briefed and argued cases before the U.S. Court of International Trade, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. From 1988-1989, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Frank M. Johnson, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.