Matthew Nicely joined Akin Gump as a partner in its international trade practice, the law firm said by email. Nicely, previously of Hughes Hubbard, is president of the Customs and International Trade Bar Association (see 2006150013).

The U.S. named six panelists for the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism, for the enforcement of USMCA labor protections:

• Janice Bellace, Samuel A. Blank professor emeritus of legal studies and business ethics at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
• Lance Compa, a former senior lecturer at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, where he focused on U.S. labor law and international labor rights
• Peter Hurtgen, former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, and former director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, a partner working in labor and employment law at Curley, Hurtgen & Johnsrud
• Ira Jaffe, an arbitrator and mediator primarily hearing labor and employment and benefits disputes, in both public and private sectors
• Kevin Kolben, an associate professor at the Rutgers Business School and an expert on transnational labor regulation and labor governance in supply chains
• Edward Potter, an International Advisory Council member at the Institute for Human Rights and Business, who also participated in the International Labor Organization's Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations that holds countries accountable for their obligations resulting from the ratification of ILO conventions.

The United States, in consultation with Mexico, also agreed on six non-national panelists: Gary Cwitco, Cleopatra Elmira Doumbia-Henry, Pablo Lazo Grandi, Salvador Del Rey Guanter, Paul van der Heijden, and Adolfo Alberto Ciudad Reynaud.

The U.S. Trade Representative announced the appointment of USMCA state-to-state dispute panelists July 1:

• Susan G. Braden, retired justice at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims
• John J. Buckley, Jr., retired partner at William & Connolly in Washington, D.C., who specializes in domestic and international commercial arbitration and investor-state arbitration
• E.F. Mano DeAyala, partner at Buck Keenan in Houston, who specializes in disputes in oil and gas and employment, both domestic and internationally
• Dennis Devaney, a former International Trade Commissioner and senior counsel at Clark Hill in Detroit
• Mark C. Hansen, a partner at Kellogg, Hansen, Todd Figel & Frederick, who litigated a very large domestic forced technology transfer case
• Jean Kalicki, an independent arbitrator in New York and Washington, D.C., specializing in investor-state disputes, international and complex commercial disputes
• Ann Ryan Robertson, an international partner in Locke Lord's Houston office, and incoming president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
• Koji Saito, intellectual property manager at Sanyo North America
• Stephen P. Vaughn, former general counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
• Julie Bédard, head of Skadden’s International Litigation and Arbitration Group for the Americas.