Darrel Pearson, co-chair of the firm's international trade and investment practice, is widely recognized in Canada and abroad for his work in the fields of international trade and customs law. He has represented domestic and international clients in many of the most important customs and trade remedy cases before all relevant Canadian Tribunals and Courts, including the only two cases involving customs law and international trade remedy law heard by the Supreme Court of Canada in the last 50 years.
Darrel's practice covers the full range of international trade and investment law.
His customs law practice focuses on minimizing duty, GST, interest and penalties by creatively and compliantly structuring and engineering transactions for customs valuation, tariff classification and tariff preference (including free trade treaty) purposes, as well as internal and external audits and compliance. He has extensive experience with the customs aspects of international transfer pricing. Darrel also advises clients on product regulation impacting cross border trade.
Darrel is one of the most experienced and successful trade remedy lawyers in Canada. He has represented and safeguarded the market access interests of a vast number of clients marketing an extensive and varied product range of commercial, industrial, primary industry, consumer, agricultural and agri-food goods in proceedings before Canadian tribunals and the Courts. Darrel has represented clients in Canada and abroad in more than two hundred trade remedy matters involving goods exported to Canada from all over the world.
Complementing his international trade and investment practice, he is an international commercial and investment dispute resolution arbitrator and is a member of the International Roster of Neutrals of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) (International division of the American Bar Association) and of the London Court of International Trade (LCIA), and is an invited member of the NAFTA Ch. 19 Dispute Resolution Panel. Darrel also provides clients with government procurement advice including dispute resolution proceedings.
Darrel has been recognized as a leading legal practitioner in his field. He has received Martindale-Hubbell's highest rating (AV® Preeminent™), and is annually recognized in the Canadian Lexpert Directory, the International Who's Who of Trade and Customs Lawyers, Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business, Best Lawyers in Canada, Euromoney Legal Media Group: The Best of the Best, Legal Media Group's Guide to the World's Leading International Trade Lawyers and The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada. Darrel has also been named among the Top 25 International Trade law experts in the world by Lexpert Guides to the World's Leading Lawyers – Best of the Best 2008.
Darrel has authored numerous publications on the subjects of Canadian customs and international trade law in Canada and internationally. He has also been a frequent lecturer and speaker at Canadian and international conferences and other speaking engagements on a wide range of subjects bearing on international trade and investment.