With the United States government shutdown approaching its sixth week, attorneys have continued to work behind the scenes to push cases forward. While the International Trade Commission (ITC) is known for its speedy investigations, the agency has inevitably been faced with delays and missed deadlines as its doors remain shut. Law360 reached to Smith Brittingham, leader of Finnegan's ITC litigation practice, for his thoughts on the impact of the government shutdown at the ITC.
Smith, who was an attorney at the ITC when the government shut down for 21 days in 1996 said, "I think in the modern area, with more cases pending, there’s likely to be a fair amount of reshuffling when the government eventually reopens." He's optimistic though that when the government does reopen, the ITC will work to get things back on track. He said, "Everyone who does this kind of work knows that the ITC still expects to try and finish these cases as quickly as possible, even when they’re shut down. That means you cannot assume the ITC will tolerate no activity for a month or two months during a shutdown.”
