OFAC License — Paid Consultation on Specific and General Licenses
A paid consultation with Sherrod Seward, Esq. on whether a transaction is already authorised, and on applying when it is not.
Most licensing questions turn out to be one of two questions. Is this transaction already covered by a general license, in which case no application is needed and the work is documenting why. Or does it need a specific license, in which case the application has to establish something particular. You will leave the call knowing which of the two you are in, and what the application would have to say.
Before this office can accept a consultation fee on a sanctions matter, it must screen the prospective client and, separately, whoever would be paying. Where a person or entity is blocked, providing legal services and receiving payment for them are two different questions under the sanctions regulations, and the answer to the first does not answer the second. So there is no payment link on this page. Send the enquiry, this office will run the screening, and if a fee can lawfully be accepted you will be told what it is and how to pay it. If it cannot, you will be told that instead.
Sending this form does not engage this office and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Nothing here is an offer to represent any person or entity, and nothing here should be read as a statement that this office is authorised to act for, or to accept payment from, any particular person.
Prefer to speak to someone first? +1 (202) 999-3631
Request a consultation
Six fields. About a minute.
Bring the call one of these
- You need to know whether a transaction is authorised before you do it.
- A bank has blocked or rejected a payment and you need it released.
- A general license may cover you and you need that confirmed properly.
- You need to pay professionals, or receive funds, from a blocked party.
- A humanitarian or personal-remittance transaction needs authorisation.
General licence first, specific licence second
A general license authorises a described category of transactions for everyone who fits it, without an application. A specific license is an authorisation issued to a named party for a named transaction, and it has to be applied for. The order matters: it is common for a transaction that people assume needs an application to be covered already, and equally common for a general license that once covered it to have been superseded. General licenses are amended, renumbered and revoked frequently, so which ones are currently operative is verified against the agency's own current text at each consultation rather than recalled.
This office has been the plaintiff, not only the drafter
Law Offices of Sherrod Seward, PLLC v. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
No. 3:25-cv-00057 (W.D.N.C.), filed January 2025
This office has been the plaintiff in a Freedom of Information Act case, not only the drafter of the request. When an agency declined to produce records, the firm filed suit in its own name under 5 U.S.C. 552 to compel production.
A pending matter is described here as a fact about this office's own experience. It is not a result, it does not predict anything about any other case, and every case is decided on its own record. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
How it runs
- Send the enquiryThe form below. It takes about a minute and it asks for nothing sensitive.
- ScreeningThis office screens the prospective client and, separately, whoever would pay. On a sanctions matter that has to happen before a fee can be accepted.
- You are told where you standEither what the consultation costs and how to pay it, or that a fee cannot lawfully be accepted here. You will be told plainly which.
- The consultationThe call itself, followed by a written summary of what was decided and the dates that govern it.
Watch first
Questions people actually ask
What do I actually get for the fee?
The $500 is the fee for the consultation itself and for the written summary that follows it. It is not a retainer, and it does not include drafting or filing a FOIA request, an administrative appeal, a licence application, a delisting petition, a federal court complaint, a trademark application, a response to a USPTO office action, or a post-registration maintenance filing - each of those is separately scoped and separately quoted. Government, agency and court filing fees, any agency search, review or duplication fees, and any USPTO filing fees, are not included and are payable to the government, not to this office.
Is this legal advice?
The consultation is. This page is not — it is general information about federal practice, and reading it creates no relationship with this office. Sending this form does not create an attorney-client relationship. No attorney-client relationship is formed until this office and you have signed a written engagement agreement.
Can you tell me what my chances are?
You will get a candid assessment of what your record supports and where it is thin, which is the useful version of that question. What you will not get is a percentage. Every matter is decided on its own record by a government officer or a judge, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
What happens if you cannot help?
You will be told so on the call, and told where the matter actually belongs. That happens often enough to be worth saying out loud.
Can this office simply tell me it is fine to proceed?
Not from a web page, and not before the facts are known. Whether a transaction is authorised depends on the specific program, the parties, the ownership chain and the current text of the relevant authorisations — all of which change. What the consultation produces is an assessment of your actual facts against the operative authorities at the time, not a general reassurance.
Why is there no payment button on this page?
Because sanctions matters are screened before a fee is accepted. Where a prospective client or a payer is blocked, the authority to provide legal services and the authority to receive payment for them are separate questions under the regulations. This office settles that before taking money, not after.