Jan served as a lawyer at major U.S. law firms where she represented companies in a variety of industries, including steel, petroleum, chemicals, textiles, high-tech and manufacturing. Her government experience included working as a lawyer for the U.S. Customs Service (now Customs and Border Protection (CBP)) in the Office of the Assistant Chief Counsel, in New York as well as in the Office of Chief Counsel in Washington DC. In New York she was involved in the litigation of cases before the Court of International Trade (CIT). Jan also served as a trade advisor at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). This position included drafting and reviewing proposed tariff legislation, as well as drafting presidential proclamations and executive orders implementing international trade policy decisions.

Jan’s work as a customs lawyer has covered all aspects of the laws dealing with importing and exporting goods. This includes tariff classification, valuation, country of origin rules, the application of quotas, the mitigation of penalty cases and the imposition of sanctions.

The work in developing countries over the past twelve years included assisting developing countries to build trade capacity in order to streamline customs procedures and increase transparency in accordance with the Revised Kyoto Convention on customs procedures of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and to comply with the requirements of the World Trade Organization (WTO)) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). It has also involved regional integration, WTO accession, implementation of the single window and reform and modernization of customs services.

Most recently, Jan has been working with companies in Africa to determine eligibility for the duty-free treatment available under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).