October 17, 2011
News Release 11-131
Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819

Deanna Tanner Okun, Chairman of the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), announced today that Judge Thomas Bernard Pender will become an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) at the USITC effective October 24, 2011. Pender will manage litigation, preside over evidentiary hearings, and make initial determinations in the agency's investigations involving unfair practices in import trade. These investigations most often involve allegations of patent, trademark, and copyright infringement.

Prior to joining the USITC, Pender served as an ALJ in the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review with the Social Security Administration in Richmond, VA. From July 2005 to September 2010, he was an Administrative Judge with the Office of Hearings and Appeals for the Small Business Administration in Washington, DC. He served as Chief Trial Attorney and the Director of the Contract Disputes Resolution Center for Defense Contract Management Agency from January 2002 to July 2005. Previously, Pender served as a Senior Trial Attorney in the Office of the Chief Trial Attorney of the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH; as a Deputy District Counsel for the U.S. Army Engineer District in Baltimore, MD; as a General Attorney/Trial Attorney for the U.S. Army Engineer District in Fort Worth, TX; and while on active duty in the U.S. Army, he served as Assistant Staff Judge Advocate in Bayonne, NJ, and as a Trial Defense Counsel in Tongduchon, South Korea.

Pender received his JD from Emory University Law School, Atlanta, GA, and holds a bachelor's degree from the Virginia Military Institute. He is a member of the State Bar of Georgia.

The U.S. International Trade Commission is an independent, nonpartisan, quasi-judicial federal agency that provides trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches of government, determines the impact of imports on U.S. industries, and directs actions against certain unfair trade practices, such as patent, trademark, and copyright infringement.