The USITC welcomed two new judges to its Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) corps in October 2011, returning the agency to a full complement of six ALJs to preside over the agency’s section 337 investigations.

Judge Thomas B. Pender and Judge David P. Shaw joined the USITC on October 24, 2011, and both hit the ground running.

The agency was down to four ALJs following the summer retirements of former Chief Administrative Law Judge Paul J. Luckern and former Judge Carl C. Charneski. Chief Administrative Law Judge Charles E. Bullock, who became the agency’s Chief ALJ on October 20, 2011, assigned investigations to the two new ALJs on the very day they arrived.

"A record number of new section 337 complaints was filed in FY 2011, and the pace of new filings remains high as we enter FY 2012," said USITC Chairman Deanna Tanner Okun.

"Judge Pender and Judge Shaw are definitely very welcome additions to the USITC, and I am especially pleased to note that they share the Commission’s commitment to the expeditious, technically sound, and transparent completion of section 337 investigations in the shortest time period possible."