Hdeel Abdelhady Bio

Hdeel Abdelhady Professional Biography

Founder and Principal, MassPoint PLLC

Professional Focus

Hdeel Abdelhady specializes in international trade law, with particular emphasis on:

Academic Experience

Hdeel Abdelhady is a Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School, where she has taught for 20 years. She created and teaches an innovative course on “Regulation of Foreign Access to U.S. Technology,” which examines laws, regulations, and policies aimed at maintaining U.S. technological leadership. The course covers foreign investment regulations, export controls, and sanctions affecting emerging technologies.

Professional Experience

Prior to founding MassPoint PLLC, Professor Abdelhady:

  • Practiced law at two major U.S.-based law firms
  • Served as secondment counsel to banks in Washington, D.C. and Dubai
  • Handled cross-border trade finance matters across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East
  • Managed anti-money laundering and financial crime compliance, including work on a significant USA Patriot Act enforcement case

Publications and Thought Leadership Hdeel Abdelhady

Hdeel Abdelhady regularly publishes on sanctions, emerging technologies, and international banking. Her work appears in prestigious publications including:

  • World Bank Legal Review
  • Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law
  • Law360
  • Reuters
  • Ahram Online
  • Sustainable Law and Development Journal

Appointments & Honors

  • Fellow, American Bar Foundation
  • Board Member, Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists, DC Chapter
  • Member, ABA Task Force on Gatekeeper Regulation and the Profession
  • Corporate Law Firm of the Year, USA (MassPoint PLLC) – Finance Monthly Global Awards
  • Listed in Who’s Who Legal 2016 (Corporate: M&A and Governance)
  • Past Co-Chair, ABA Middle East Committee

Education

The George Washington University Law School, JD

  • Member, Moot Court Executive Board
  • Chairwoman, Van Vleck Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition
  • “Best Overall Competitor” and Best Oral Argument awards
  • Class of 2002 Clinics Volunteer Service Award
  • President, Street Law Student Association
  • Law Clerk, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division

University of Pittsburgh, BA

  • Double Major: Political Science and History (Middle East and Africa)

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • Virginia
  • Maryland
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

 

Select Publications

Export Controls and Sanctions Compliance

  • “New BIS Guidance to Financial Institutions on Best Practices for Compliance with the Export Administration Regulations,” MassPoint PLLC (October 2024)
  • “OFAC Highlights the Importance of Integrating IP Address and KYC Data in Sanctions Compliance,” MassPoint PLLC (June 2023)
  • “U.S. Blocking and Non-blocking Sanctions on Russia to be Felt Widely,” Reuters (March 2022)
  • “Amid COVID-19, OFAC Exempts Medicines, PPE, Other Items from Sanctions on Iranian Manufacturing,” Reuters (June 2020)
  • “OFAC Asserts Jurisdiction Over Foreign Transactions Involving U.S. Origin Software and Telecommunications Hardware,” Law360 (March 2020)
  • “OFAC’s Expanded Sanctions Reporting Rules: Analysis and Public Comment,” Money Laundering News (July 2019)
  • “Reimposed U.S. Anti-Iran Sanctions Leverage American Economic Power,” Reuters (November 2018)
  • “United States Adds Russian Direct Investment Fund, Other Russian Financial Services Actors to Sectoral Sanctions List,” MassPoint PLLC (August 2015)

Technology Control and National Security

  • “China’s Expanded Export Controls Complicate TikTok Divestment,” MassPoint PLLC (August 2020)
  • “China’s Rare Earth Exports: End Use and End User Controls Coming?” MassPoint PLLC (June 2019)
  • “Tech War: U.S. Whole-of-Government Approach to China is a Force Multiplier,” MassPoint PLLC (May 2019)
  • “Huawei, Questions About Ownership, and the Foreign Agents Registration Act,” MassPoint PLLC (April 2019)
  • “Trade Wars: Restrictions on Foreign Access to U.S. Technology,” Law360 (October 2018)

Academic Research and National Security

  • “How Tech Race Bill Expands CFIUS Purview To Academia,” Law360 (May 2021)
  • “Protect Our Universities Act Restricts Foreign Student Participation in ‘Sensitive’ Academic Research,” MassPoint PLLC (March 2019)

Foreign Investment and National Security

  • “Foreign Investment, National Security, and Personal Data: Grindr’s Perfect Storm,” MassPoint PLLC (May 2019)
  • “Proposals to Curb Foreign Investment in the United States Gaining Steam After the U.S. Election,” MassPoint PLLC (November 2016)
  • “Foreign Investment in U.S. Agriculture Raises National Security Concerns,” MassPoint PLLC (April 2016)

Anti-Corruption and Financial Crime

  • “Global Magnitsky: The Swiss Army Knife of Sanctions,” Law360 (August 2018)
  • “U.S. Anti-Corruption Enforcement in Africa’s Extractives Industry,” MassPoint PLLC (July 2018)
  • “The Curious Case Of Trump Attorney’s Suspicious Activity Report,” MassPoint PLLC (April 2018)
  • “How the Trump Administration Supercharged Global Magnitsky Corruption and Human Rights Sanctions,” MassPoint PLLC (April 2018)
  • “From Sergei Magnitsky to Global Magnitsky: United States Asserts Universal Jurisdiction Over Corruption and Human Rights Abuses,” MassPoint PLLC (March 2018)
  • “New U.S. Sanctions Are a Powerful Weapon Against Corruption and Human Rights Abuse Worldwide,” MassPoint PLLC (March 2018)

International Trade and Finance

  • “Trade-Based Debt is Subject to Russia Sectoral Sanctions Prohibitions,” MassPoint PLLC (May 2019)
  • “U.S. Law as Trade War Weapon,” Law360 (May 2018)
  • “A Great BRIC Wall? Emerging Trade and Finance Channels Led by Non-Western Nations Could Curtail the Global Reach of U.S. Law,” MassPoint PLLC (June 2015)

Policy Analysis and Commentary

  • “ISIS’ Islamic Stagecraft,” Ahram Weekly (April 2017)
  • “5 Legal and Business Issues to Watch in 2017 (Post-Election),” MassPoint PLLC (January 2017)

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