NARGES KAHVAZADEH is a senior associate with Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., and a member of the Export Controls and Sanctions Practice. She counsels clients on navigating and complying with complex export control laws and regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions programs. Ms. Kahvazadeh brings a pragmatic, business-conscious approach to advising clients on international trade issues.
With substantial experience in preparing and submitting commodity jurisdiction and classification requests, Ms. Kahvazadeh handles voluntary disclosures and assesses and improves trade compliance programs. She advises clients on strategic product design development with U.S. export controls in mind and regularly provides guidance on encryption controls under the EAR. She also addresses the applicability of U.S. export and sanctions laws to software deployment, cloud computing, including SaaS solutions, and offshore development. Additionally, she offers guidance on due diligence and integration efforts related to mergers, acquisitions, and pre-IPO due diligence.
In response to recent shifting geopolitical alliances and evolving U.S.-China relations, Ms. Kahvazadeh assists companies doing business with and in China. She specializes in advising clients on compliance with new export controls affecting the semiconductor industry and advanced computing sectors.
Representative matters include:
- Advised multiple U.S. and international technology companies on the impact of recent Entity List designations on their operations.
- Guided major technology companies through the process of conducting internal investigations related to the extraterritorial implications of the EAR's foreign-produced direct product rule.
- Provided guidance to a large U.S.-based software company regarding compliance with deemed export controls under the EAR and ITAR.
- Implemented complex export control jurisdiction and classification solutions, developed compliance programs that integrate export control gates into key business processes, and assisted a Fortune 500 company in meeting key requirements for Department of State and Commerce export compliance inquiries.
- Conducted risk assessments of a large U.S.-based technology company’s export controls and sanctions compliance program.
- Advised a large U.S.-based defense company on implementing a compliance agreement under the ITAR.
Before joining Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, she was an associate at an international law firm, where she advised both foreign and domestic clients on trade compliance programs, best practices, classification and licensing activities, and trade diligence in the context of mergers and acquisitions. Prior to entering private practice, she served as a trade compliance manager in the defense industry, where she focused on assessing and mitigating risks related to export and sanctions compliance.
Ms. Kahvazadeh earned her J.D. from Washington and Lee University and her B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College under the Great Books curriculum. She is a member of the California Bar and the San Diego chapter of the Iranian American Bar Association. She is fluent in Farsi.