JD Journal » lobbyists

Bracewell & Giuliani’s Shocking Client

joshua — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:24:07 +0000

Bracewell & Giuliani, an international law firm that bears the name of former New York Mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani, lobbied last year on behalf of a special needs school to kill a bill that would have prevented the school from using electric shocks to discipline students, according to this story from the Boston Globe.

The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center reportedly paid $100,000 to the law firm to lobby the Senate on its behalf in opposition to a bill that would have banned the use of restraints and certain other devices on students. The bill passed the House, but was killed in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. According to the firm, Giuliani was not involved in the decision to accept the school as a client and played no role in lobbying on the school’s behalf.

Eckert Seamans Expands in Richmond

joshua — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:26:59 +0000

Eckert Seamans added three partners and three lobbyists to its Richmond office this week. All six come from the firm of LeClairRyan. The office, which opened last Octoberwhen a group of former Troutman Sanders attorneys made the jump, had been staffed by a single lawyer up until now.

Partners David Clarke, Thomas Lisk and Richard Savage III will be part of the government affairs and regulatory practice group. All three have extensive experience with lobbying, regulatory and administrative law. In addition three non lawyer lobbyists, Mary Fox, Nicole Riley and Lisa Foster have joined, forming a government relations group headed by Fox.

Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC is a national full-service law firm based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with two offices located in the Pittsburgh area and nine other offices located throughout the eastern United States.

Former Senator Mel Martinez Joins DLA Piper

joshua — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:31:34 +0000

Senator Mel Martinez (R) of Florida, who resigned his seat last month, has joined DLA Piper as a partner. Martinez, who is the first Cuban-American elected to the Senate and has also served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, will be banned from lobbying for two years under federal rules for lobbyists. Two other former senators, George Mitchell (D) and Dick Armey (R) have left DLA Piper recently.

DLA Piper is one of the largest law firms in the world. It is a legal services organization whose members and affiliates are separate and distinct legal entities. The organization boasts more than 3,500 lawyers in 29 countries and 65 offices.

BGR Group Loses Four

Erik Even — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:11:32 +0000

BGR Group has lost four staffers, including Democratic bigwigs Michael Meehan and David DiMartino.

Meehan and DiMartino were the lobbying firm’s first Democratic hires, when the traditionally Republican firm went bipartisan in 2007.

The pair will head spin-off firm Blue Line Strategic Communications. Two unnamed BGR staffers are joining them.

Meehan was chief of staff to Washington Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell, and an adviser on John Kerry’s presidential campaign.

BGR Group is a bipartisan government relations, strategic communications, and investment banking firm with offices in Washington DC and London.

Greenberg Traurig Lawyer Founds Autism Lobbying Group

Erik Even — Fri, 08 May 2009 23:08:35 +0000

Gretchen Jacobs has left the Phoenix office of Greenberg Traurig, to set up her own autism lobbying group.

Jacobs has an autistic daughter, and has been widely noted for her advocacy for autism research.

She joined Greenberg Traurig in 2004 as part of the national governmental affairs practice. She got her law degree at the Santa Clara University School of Law in 1995. Her legal training included study at Oxford University in England.

Wolf Block Groups Join Nelson Mullins

Erik Even — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:15:24 +0000

Lawyers from the Washington, DC and Boston offices of now-defunct Wolf Block will join the Columbia, South Carolina office of Nelson Mullins.

Those resurfacing at Nelson Mullins include five Boston partners, including Wolf Block Public Strategies CEO Robert Crow; two associates and two lobbyists from Boston; and a lobbyist from Washington.

Crowe was co-chairperson for finance for the Democratic National Committee during the 2004 presidential campaign, and is co-chairperson of Senator John Kerry’s finance committee and political action committee.

Wolf Block’s partnership dissolved the 106-year-old firm on March 23th.

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP is a large US law firm and lobbying group based in Columbia, South Carolina. In 2007, the National Law Journal ranked the firm the the largest in South Carolina and 111th largest in the United States. The firm also ranked 127th in profit per attorney on the 2007 Am Law 200 survey.

Podesta Group Adds Lobbyists

Erik Even — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:14:13 +0000

The Podesta Group has added at least six principals this year.

Podesta saw a 44% rise in gross lobbying revenue from 2007 to 2008.

So far this year, the firm has filed 18 registrations for new federal lobbying clients, including Deloitte, Michelin North America, and Sallie Mae. The firm’s existing clients include Google, Wal-Mart, and Reed Elsevier, the company that owns Lexis-Nexis.

The new additions include Teal Baker, an official in President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, who returns to Podesta after leaving in 2007.

Peggy Binzel is a former legislative director for then-US Representative Jack Fields of Texas.

Beth Inadomi returns to Podesta; she is a former counsel on the Senate Commerce Committee.

Aranthan Jones II worked for then-US Representative William Jefferson, Louisiana Democrat.

Andy Lewin worked for US Representative Dennis Moore, Democrat of Kansas, and then-US Representative Max Sandlin, Democrat of Texas.

Bob Taylor was deputy assistant secretary of defense for Senate affairs.

The Podesta Group is a lobbying and public affairs firm based in Washington, DC. It was founded in 1988 by brothers John Podesta and Tony Podesta, and has previously been known as Podesta Associates and PodestaMattoon.

During Layoffs, Holland & Knight Expanded Lobbying Team

Erik Even — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:26:06 +0000

Last month we reported that Holland & Knight laid off 243 lawyers and staffers.

But it has now been revealed that during the same period, the firm took on more than a dozen lobbyists.

Rich Gold, head of the firm’s public policy and regulation practice, expanded the size his federal lobbying team to about 70, to help clients get their piece of the president’s economic stimulus package.

The practice group has 240 clients, including 50 recently acquired ones.

Holland & Knight is a law firm with more than 1,150 lawyers in 23 US offices. Other offices around the world are located in Beijing, China, and Mexico City, Mexico, with representative offices in Caracas, Venezuela, and Tel Aviv, Israel.

Holland & Knight is the 36th largest law firm in the world, providing representation in litigation, business, real estate and governmental law.

Akin Gump Wins Big in Lobbying Revenues

Erik Even — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:41:34 +0000

Am Law 200 firms Covington & Burling, K&L Gates, Dickstein Shapiro, and McGuireWoods were among the law firms that made the most cash from lobbying in 2008, according to Legal Times’ annual listing of the “Influence 50.”

But Akin Gump came in first place, with $98 million in lobbying revenues in 2008, up 9% from 2007.

Covington saw a 36.6% increase in lobbying revenue, to $55.2 million in 2008.

The law firm with the biggest loss in lobbying revenues was Washington, DC’s Williams & Jensen, whose revenues fell 16.5% to $16.7 million.

In 2009, firms are scrambling to hire lobbyists to win federal stimulus package dollars for clients.

Arent Fox Lays Off 13 Associates, 15 Staff

Erik Even — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:58:29 +0000

Do you work for Washington DC law firm and lobbying group Arent Fox?

Are you sure?

After careful analysis and consideration following this review, we have made the difficult decision to downsize our associate, legal support and administrative ranks, resulting in the reduction of 13 associates and 15 staff members. These reductions will impact each of the Firm’s three offices.

Those three offices are in Washington, New York City and Los Angeles.

In January, Arent Fox froze associate salaries.

Founded in 1942, Arent Fox LLP, formerly Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn, was ranked by the National Law Journal in 2007 as the 137th largest in the US.

Holland & Knight Snaps Up DC Lobbying Firm

Erik Even — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:52:07 +0000

Law firm Holland & Knight LLP is buying the assets of lobbying firm MARC Associates and adding the company’s lobbyists to its payroll.

Effective January 1st, the 11 lobbyists will join Holland & Knight’s health care and local government policy specialties.

“We’ve been looking to grow our health care practice for the last five years,” said Holland & Knight’s Rich Gold. “We’ve got a good health care practice, but this probably puts us in the top tier.”

He said DC-based MARC Associates isn’t under financial stress, but that the firm wanted to be on a platform that would also offer clients legal services.

Holland & Knight is a global law firm with more than 1,150 lawyers in 17 US offices plus Beijing, Mexico City, Caracas and Tel Aviv. It is the 36th largest law firm in the world, providing representation in litigation, business, real estate and governmental law.