Crowell, Sidley Spearhead Big Law’s Trump Tariff Refund Fight

Companies seeking refunds from President Donald Trump’s tariffs are turning to Crowell & Moring and Sidley Austin, who are among Big Law firms that have filed the most cases for clients.

Companies have so far filed more than 2,000 cases, according to a Bloomberg analysis. Crowell filed about 200 of them while Sidley brought around 160, according to a Bloomberg Law analysis of court dockets.

“The trade practice is a big practice within a big firm, so we have lots of clients we advise on international trade and customs issues, all day every day,” said Ted Murphy, co-leader of Sidley’s global arbitration, trade and advocacy practice, in an interview.

The cases show how one of Trump’s signature policies has generated a rush of work for many of the biggest law firms. Among the 30 largest US law firms by revenue, at least 12 appear to have filed at least one refund case on behalf of clients, according to the analysis.

Sidley has filed refund cases for companies including Nippon Steel Corp., Heineken USA Inc., Lululemon, J.Crew, Chico’s Retail Services, and Lane Bryant. Crowell has filed cases on behalf of companies including Costco Wholesale Corp. and FedEx Corp. Crowell didn’t respond to a request for comment.

One company that filed a lawsuit was quoted by a large law firm between $20,000 to $30,000 to file the case, according to a lawyer at the company who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The company was not represented by Crowell or Sidley.

The company viewed the case filing as an insurance policy, fearing that not doing it could mean missing out on a refund, the lawyer said. Still, the company doesn’t anticipate substantial litigation in its case, the lawyer said.

The US government collected more than $160 billion through the tariffs that the US Supreme Court on Feb. 20 ruled illegal, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

Refund Prep

The refund cases, which were filed at the US Court for International Trade in New York, have been paused since before the court ruling. The number of case filings has been growing since January, and even more have been filed since the US Supreme Court ruled.

Among the top 30 firms by revenue that have filed cases, none other than Sidley has filed more than about 20 cases. Firms that have filed roughly 10 or more cases include DLA Piper, Baker McKenzie, Hogan Lovells, Greenberg Traurig, and Reed Smith.

The Supreme Court left questions of refunds to the US Court of International Trade, Bloomberg reported. In comments shortly after the ruling, Trump mused the litigation could last years.

Lawyers at Milbank who represented the plaintiff in the case before the Supreme Court last week asked the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to fast-track issuing an order enjoining the government to establish a process that would facilitate refund payments at the trade court.

The Department of Justice on Friday responded to the request, saying that it doesn’t agree extra speed is necessary and noted that the refund process “will take time,” citing a series of cases from 1998 involving less money that took seven years to resolve. The filing asked for at least a 90-day pause.

Sidley’s clients were prepared for the Supreme Court ruling and knew in advance that filing for refunds would be part of the effort to get back the money they were taxed, Murphy said.

There is also an administrative process to apply for refunds with the US Customs and Border Protection. Murphy said he has advised clients to take a “belt and suspenders” approach—file a lawsuit at the trade court while also pursuing the administrative path.

“Nobody really knows how the refund process will work or how difficult the government will make it,” he said.

A group of Democratic lawmakers this week introduced a bill that would require US Customs and Border Protection to repay the tariff collections within 180 days, though the legislation has not garnered Republican support.