I passed the Customs Broker License Examination

Updating an earlier post (very late: sorry!). I got the results back in June, stating I passed with 72/80. 60 was required to pass. I am now applying for the license.

International Litigation and Arbitration Conference

On Thursday and Friday of last week, I attended the Fifth Annual International Litigation and Arbitration Conference, hosted by the International Litigation and Arbitration Committee of the Florida Bar's International Law Section. I am member of this committee, and I find this area of law very interesting and challenging. Every aspect of the law, from serving process at the beginning of a case, to enforcing a judgment, becomes more complicated when the issues cross national borders. My firm sponsored the event, and I was able to attend all the presentations. It took place at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, a very beautiful venue.

Customs Broker License Examination -- fingers crossed

On April 2, 2007, I took the U.S. Customs Broker License Examination here in Miami. I took the examination to get the license, which I hope to use, at least initially, to broaden and deepen my international law practice, with an enhanced knowledge of the substantive nitty-gritty of customs regulations and tariffs.

Preparing for the examination involved sending in an application with a $200 fee, spending several hundred additional dollars on books, and I also took a study course offered by Logistics Training System. I found this to be a very high quality product, both the books and the online study materials. I was also able to take an evening class with a licensed broker named Suzanne Medina, who impressed me with her level of enthusiasm and knowledge for the material.

The test is wash-out test. The pass rate, never high, varies from 3%-25%. One has to answer 75% of the questions on the test correctly. I optimistically believe I have passed, based on my notes I took during the test, and looking up the answers afterward.

Debut Post

When I look out the window of my firm's law office in Downtown Miami, I see container ships docking in the Port of Miami, dozens of cranes building high rise condominium and office buildings, and many the offices of many important international banks and financial institutions. I see clients at work, and I can imagine their problems, and I know I have the experience, training, and specialized skills to help them. I help business clients solve vexing legal and regulatory problems, in court, in arbitrations, and in regulatory and administrative proceedings. The complexity of the legal and regulatory environment in which today's businesses operate is growing at an ever-increasing rate. At the same time, the demands on the professionals who help their clients navigate in this enviroment and the level of skill and knowledge needed to meet those demands have increased as well.

Anyway, the purpose of this blog is to open the professional discussion of issues that we who are involved in international business, trade, finance, and law face on a broader level. After all, I am working nearly 2,300 hours a year, so it is hard to get out and meet as many people as I should. My hope is to provide an interesting and attractive forum that will, in effect bring people together, to discuss ideas and developments, and also simply to meet one another.

A little about me: I am 39 years old, married, one kid, I live and work in Miami. I am thoroughly bilingual in English and Spanish as a result of 1) growing up in South Florida, 2) many years of academic Spanish 3) a summer's study in Spain, and 4) three years of living in Panama and traveling all over Latin America as a U.S. Army Intelligence Officer. I have been admitted to the Florida Bar since 1994, have been in private practice since 1997, and have been a member of my current law firm, an international boutique specializing in litigation and private wealth, since June, 2000. Here, I focus on international litigation and arbitration, anti-money laundering, employment law, and international trade and customs. I was promoted to partner in December 2006. For more about my personal activities, preferences, favorite movies, etc. I put all this information in my Friendster page. I have a personal blog there, which I rarely update, but it is there. This blog will be more professional in nature. In keeping with a sort of "cosmopolitan" look at international legal and business issues, I would like to keep clear of political, religious, moral and ethical controversies, except as they relate to the core topics of the blog.

More to follow....