Legislative/Regulatory

The halls of government are often a mystery to businesses and organizations that find themselves face to face with government-related challenges and, while all politics is local, frequently issues need to be confronted at the federal level. In today’s competitive market, organizations are turning to all three branches of government to create, administer and interpret laws and regulations in order to foster growth, meet their policy and fiscal goals, and generally remain vibrant in their sector. Our Public Policy and Government Relations Practice provides effective solutions and creates opportunities for clients seeking to impact federal policy and decision-making or engage in business with the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the federal government.

Our government affairs practice is comprehensive, encompassing the full range of government relations services from direct lobbying to legislative development to securing appropriations to regulatory affairs to extensive legal services. The firm’s strength is its long-standing success in solving policy problems and securing funding opportunities for clients and our success is based on our core strengths of experience within the federal government, a bipartisan commitment, and a singular legal prowess and political acumen. The practice provides clients substantive expertise in the long-term legislative and regulatory representation of businesses, trade associations, non-profits, educational institutions and industry in the areas of healthcare, education, disability, counter bioterrorism, and the environment.

The practice succeeds on behalf of its clients in the public policy and government relations arena by implementing one or more of the following activities:

• Monitor legislative, regulatory, and judicial issues on the federal and state level
• Identify emerging issues and the potential impact on clients
• Advocate before Congress, the federal Agencies, and state legislatures
• Counsel clients in all phases of the federal procurement and appropriations process
• Review and analyze legislation and regulations
• Develop policy positions and provide strategic communications and issue management
• Advise on legislative, regulatory, and PAC strategies
• Prepare comments on federal rulemaking issues, testimony before Congressional committees, and other related correspondence
• Provide ad hoc coalition building for intense short-term, single-focus issues
• Tapping into the substantial legal prowess of the firm as a whole

Because they play such important roles in all the firm's practice areas, we keep in close and continuing contact with various Congressional Committees and Leadership offices and the staff that serve on them, including: the Senate and House Budget and Appropriations Committees, the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, the Senate Committee on Aging,  the House Ways & Means Committee, the House Education & Workforce Committee, the House Energy & Commerce Committee, the Senate and House Government Reform Committees, and the Senate and House Committees on Veterans’ Affairs.

Within the executive branch, we maintain contact with the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Education, the Treasury Department (including the IRS), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the General accounting Office (GAO), and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), amongst many others.

Prior Experience Within Government

The firm’s government relations professionals combine past experience on Capitol Hill, in the federal agencies, and in trade associations as they engage in public policy activities. Our team members have held senior government positions, including as advisors to U.S. presidents, senators, and congressmen and collectively have more than 150 years of experience on Capitol Hill and in the Administration. They understand that a successful government relations program involves not just policy expertise but personal and political relationships with policymakers. This real-world experience helps us understand the ever-shifting political landscape and the government maze in order to help our clients expedite issues, seize opportunities and prevent problems, present issues effectively to both officials and the public, gain support for our clients’ positions, build winning coalitions, and obtain results that matter.

Bipartisan Commitment

We recognize that the successful resolution of a client’s government affairs challenges normally requires assistance from both sides of the political aisle. For this reason, our practitioners are of all political stripes and influence and we diligently work together with a focus not on politics but in serving our clients’ needs and achieving their policy goals.

Substantive Legal Prowess

Many of our government affairs professionals are practicing attorneys. In addition to their ability to anticipate how agencies and the courts will interpret laws and how to navigate a client’s issues through the governmental maze, this substantive legal prowess enables us to provide clients with, when necessary, legal counsel and advice that is sometimes needed where legal considerations meet political and governmental issues. In addition, our government affairs team frequently calls upon the legal skills of attorneys within the rest of the firm, including lawyers in our healthcare, education, non-profit, environment, and litigation practices.