Christopher B. Stagg

Christopher Stagg leads Holland & Knight's Export Control Disputes and Advocacy Team and advises companies on investigations, enforcement defense, consent agreements, compliance programs, regulatory interpretations and complex jurisdiction and classification issues.

Mr. Stagg resolves the most challenging and high-stakes matters with distinct experience that helps clients avoid traps and uncover often-missed opportunities. He was an architect of rewriting export control laws, secured the only judicial appellate decision ever rejecting the agency's interpretations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), led the enforcement defense of a proposed charging letter for a leading aerospace company that resulted in one of the most favorable settlements in ITAR enforcement history and advised six publicly traded companies on their consent agreements.

Mr. Stagg served as a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of State's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), where he was deputy lead for Export Control Reform, which involved rewriting the ITAR and Export Administration Regulations (EAR), including the entire U.S. Munitions List. In addition to creating the current regulatory framework, he was also responsible for authoritatively interpreting the ITAR, reforming the commodity jurisdiction procedure, resolving hundreds of commodity jurisdiction requests and advising the FBI on hundreds of export enforcement investigations.

Mr. Stagg holds the distinction of successfully challenging the government's export control interpretations in federal court, providing a key perspective for approaching all matters by deeply understanding the legal strategies and agency vulnerabilities. In addition to the only appellate decision to reject DDTC's ITAR interpretations, he obtained favorable district court rulings that the government did not appeal, and he originated a novel legal argument concerning the ITAR's statutory authority that was later successfully used by 19 state attorneys general. Drawing on this export control litigation experience, he develops effective legal strategies and identifies novel legal issues to advance and protect client interests.

Mr. Stagg's strategic counsel often takes place under existing or anticipated government scrutiny. His work includes helping companies navigate consent agreements and monitorships such as implementing corrective actions and developing compliance programs that satisfy the government's requirements. He also leads major jurisdiction and classification reviews, including one under a consent agreement, where he personally classified more than 80,000 items and DDTC approved his methodology without changes. Additionally, Mr. Stagg defends companies against alleged export control violations, advises on whether to voluntarily disclose violations and negotiates consent agreements. He helps companies confidently resolve the most perplexing jurisdiction, classification and interpretive issues, and he has represented scores of companies in successful commodity jurisdiction and classification requests, including reversals of adverse agency decisions through appeals, reconsiderations and rulemakings.

In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Stagg serves as co-chair of the American Bar Association's Export Controls and Economic Sanctions Committee. He is also the assistant editor of Bartlett's Annotated International Traffic in Arms Regulations and has been inducted as a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is featured or quoted by many leading publications, including The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. He is a frequent speaker at prominent industry events such as the Society for International Affairs and American Conference Institute.

Mr. Stagg's previous legal experience includes serving a secondment as an in-house senior counsel for a Fortune Global 100 company, working as an export controls lawyer at two distinguished law firms and founding his award-winning law firm that earned "highly commended" recognition from WorldECR. Before his legal career, he was a defense industry analyst at Jane's Information Group and reporter for Jane's Defence Weekly.

Not yet admitted to Virginia Bar; admitted to New York Bar and District of Columbia Bar only and practicing under supervision of lawyers licensed to practice in Virginia.