Legislative and Public Policy
Our Legislative and Public Policy Group helps our clients shape public policy before, rather than after, decisions are made, as well as provides guidance on how to respond to policy once it is made. Our substantive knowledge, discretion and reputation for conducting public policy advocacy with high ethical standards are combined with a wide range of relationships with administration and agency officials, members of Congress and their staff, non-governmental organizations, academics and the media that cover the policy making process.
Our group has often prompted Congress or the Administration to adopt new initiatives or to not carry out threatened action, and our firm’s success in the nation’s courts often involves matters in which we helped secure enactment of the underlying legislation. Our lawyers know how to advocate effectively in every relevant policy forum. We understand the rules of legislative process, how government operates and how to match the needs of our clients with those of other relevant stakeholders to achieve practical legislative results.
We are among the most respected lobbying voices in Washington – and globally – on trade, financial services, energy, public international law/sovereign representation, tax policy, rail transportation and telecommunications. Recognizing the global nature of our client base and the economies in which they do business, we represent clients before Congress, the executive branch and regulatory agencies in Washington, overseas governments in Europe, the former Soviet Republics, Asia and Africa, and widely throughout the United States at the state and local level. We are frequently consulted by Congress on legislative matters in our core substantive fields, testify on a wide range of issues and prepare our clients when they are called upon to testify.
We work directly with members and with staff on the Hill and with senior officials in federal agencies to help craft legislative and regulatory language. In addition to drafting legislation, legislative history and testimony, preparing witnesses or testifying ourselves before congressional committees, we also organize and coordinate coalitions or groups with shared interests, develop constituent or grassroots support, keep clients advised of the current status of legislation and anticipated legislative initiatives, develop overall legislative strategy, counsel clients regarding compliance with the Lobbying Disclosure Act, gift rules and federal election laws, and lobby administrative agencies.
Many of our Washington lawyers have held top jobs in the executive branch and on legislative staffs at both the state and federal levels. These include: Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, Chief Counsel of the House Ways and Means Committee, General Counsel to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Trade Counsel to the Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee, Counsel to the Joint Tax Committee and Chief of Staff, Counsel and Legislative Assistant to several members of the Senate and House, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice; Senior Advisor for International Economic Affairs to the Vice President, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, and several other political and senior career positions in cabinet departments.