Peter Klestadt

Practice Areas

Peter W. Klestadt is a senior partner at Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt LLP, the premier Customs and International Trade law firm. He has more than 40 years of experience concentrating in the areas of customs and related import and export laws. He regularly appears before the federal agencies responsible for enforcing these laws, including Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, NOAA) and others.

Mr. Klestadt, also a licensed Customs Broker, counsels clients on how to maximize opportunities in areas such as valuation, tariff classification, marking and country of origin as well as in the areas of regulatory compliance and audits. He has developed extensive experience defending complex criminal and civil investigations involving customs fraud, food labeling and endangered species Lacey Act violations, as well as False Claims Act and Enforce and Protection Act (EAPA) cases involving evasion of customs and antidumping duties.

Career

Prior to beginning his legal career, Mr. Klestadt worked in the customs brokerage and freight forwarding industry and continues to render advice in this area. Mr. Klestadt is a contributing author of Import Handbook (1997) and has been recognized by Chambers for the past 13 years.