Samuel Scoles

Samuel Scoles oversees and manages the Firm's trade reporting and advisory services in the Asia-Pacific. He advises multinational corporations, trade associations and sovereign clients on the cross-border movement of goods and services with regards to trade and customs matters. Sam also serves as primary liaison with the Firm's trade advisory practices in Europe and the Americas. Before moving to Sydney in 2021, Sam was based in the Firm's Singapore office.

Sam provides strategic advice to clients on market access opportunities, trade and customs duty incentives available in regional and bilateral free trade agreements (FTA), and implementation of customs and other internal procedures to ensure efficient movement of goods and services. He regularly advises clients on trade and investment developments in the Asia-Pacific, including understanding and implementation of FTAs, rules of origin, supply chains, domestic labeling, product standards, and other customs and regulatory issues of the automotive, agribusiness, beverage, electronics, food, manufacturing, petrochemical, and steel sectors.

Sam has worked on antidumping investigations and reviews involving products from Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand (such as frozen fish fillets, mushrooms, shrimp, paper, and polyethylene retail carrier bags).

Sam has over 25 years of experience in Asia in both the private and non-profit sectors. As one client notes, "The merit of instructing him is that of course he has specialist knowledge in trade issues concerning Asia and gives us the very best responses to our enquiries." He is also described as "very reliable and responsive." and appreciated for his "very specialised focus in the region." (Chambers Asia-Pacific 2019, 2020, 2022)

Prior to joining White & Case as an international trade analyst in the Firm's Washington, DC office in 2001, Sam worked in business and e-commerce development for Astaga.com, a leading Internet company in Jakarta, Indonesia. He also spent over four years in Thailand working as both a university lecturer and an assistant coordinator for Aide Médicale Internationale, a French non-governmental organization focusing on primary health care and small and medium enterprise (SME) development in Chiang Mai and along the Thai-Burmese border.