Kevin M. O’Connor

Kevin M. O’Connor has experience representing clients in a broad range of issue areas. He has represented clients on board advisory, tax-exempt, and international trade matters, and has advised clients with respect to lobbying disclosure, campaign finance, and Congressional ethics rules. He also has experience representing clients on legislative and regulatory affairs matters.

In the area of board advisory work, Mr. O’Connor has represented non-profit entities, industry trade associations, and a multi-billion dollar investment trust. He has counseled these clients on a wide range of governance matters, including the development of and adherence to organization bylaws and other governing documents, fiduciary responsibilities of board members and officers, and compliance and reporting issues related to tax-exempt entities, lobbying disclosure, and Congressional and Executive Branch ethics rules. As counsel to the trade organization of the U.S. wild-caught shrimp industry, Mr. O’Connor has drafted comments related to food safety laws and regulations, and has advocated before officials of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility for the establishment of a fair compensation framework for shrimp fishermen harmed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the area of international trade, Mr. O’Connor has assisted in the preparation of antidumping and countervailing duty petitions, represented a domestic industry in all phases of a five-year sunset review of antidumping orders before the U.S. International Trade Commission, and has argued discrete trade issues arising out of administrative reviews of an antidumping order before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He has been involved in industry efforts to strengthen enforcement of trade orders, including efforts to curtail the circumvention of orders. Mr. O’Connor also has experience representing a domestic industry at the U.S. Export-Import Bank, particularly with respect to the requirement that the Bank considers the impact of its financing of foreign production on competing U.S. industries.

Mr. O’Connor has counseled clients with respect to the laws and regulations applicable to tax-exempt organizations. He has drafted a ruling request seeking exclusion from unrelated business income tax provisions of the Internal Revenue Code for a particular tax-exempt entity, and has worked on tax issues related to the settlement of international trade litigation on behalf of domestic industry associations.

Mr. O’Connor’s legislative and regulatory affairs practice has involved working with clients to identify areas of need, develop legislative concepts, build supporting coalitions, and advocate their interests before the U.S. Congress and the Executive Branch. He was involved in crafting the initial framework for a multi-billion dollar investment trust created by an Act of Congress as a result of management-labor negotiations, and following the trust’s formation, worked on post-enactment implementation, including numerous legal interpretive issues involving the IRS, SEC, NASD, FINRA, and other governmental and quasi-governmental agencies. Mr. O’Connor also has developed, drafted, and advocated legislation to provide tax incentives for investment in freight rail infrastructure and natural gas storage facilities, has worked with a high-tech industry association to develop tax legislative proposals to increase competitiveness of the U.S. industry, and has worked on a number of legislative and regulatory proposals affecting the multi-billion dollar payroll reporting industry. He also has prepared clients who are called to testify before Congressional committees and administrative agencies.