King & Spalding brings back former Stripe trade lawyer Betre Gizaw to its Washington office

A return hire in a practice shaped by sanctions, export controls, and supply-chain scrutiny

King & Spalding has brought back international trade lawyer Betre Gizaw to its Washington, D.C., office, marking the latest in a series of talent moves as law firms expand teams that advise on sanctions, export controls, and other national security-linked trade rules.

Gizaw previously practiced at King & Spalding and later held in-house roles tied to financial technology, including work at Stripe. Public biographical materials indicate he advised on financial services regulatory issues in North America while at Stripe and later served as general counsel at Paystack, a payments company based in Lagos, Nigeria. He subsequently moved into a senior counsel role focused on strategic planning within Stripe’s legal organization.

Why trade and regulatory expertise is increasingly in demand

The return comes amid sustained enforcement and policy activity across several interlocking regimes that affect companies operating internationally, including:

• U.S. economic sanctions administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which can restrict transactions and impose compliance obligations on U.S. and non-U.S. entities.

• Export controls administered primarily by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department for defense-related items, affecting hardware, software, technical data, and services.

• Foreign investment review and national-security risk assessments, particularly for transactions involving sensitive technology and data.

King & Spalding’s Washington platform houses major components of its government and regulatory practices, including an international trade group that works on export controls, sanctions, and trade proceedings.

Career throughline: from outside counsel to in-house fintech and back

Gizaw’s professional profile reflects a path that has become increasingly common in high-regulation sectors: moving from private practice into an in-house legal role at a fast-growing technology company, and then returning to a law-firm platform. For lawyers focused on trade and regulatory compliance, the in-house experience can involve designing controls for product launches, assessing cross-border risks, and coordinating with business and engineering teams on compliance-by-design.

Return hires have become a visible feature of competition among major firms, particularly in Washington-based practices where regulatory cycles and enforcement priorities can quickly reshape client demand.

What to watch next in Washington’s trade and compliance landscape

For companies seeking advice in this area, the near-term focus often includes building auditable compliance programs, monitoring changes to restricted-party and sanctions lists, and stress-testing supply-chain decisions against export-control classifications and licensing requirements. In Washington, the concentration of agencies and policymakers also means clients frequently seek integrated counsel that combines legal analysis, agency process knowledge, and strategic risk management.