- On behalf
of a foreign industry trade association, the Group helped draft a
legislative and political strategy that successfully challenged
potentially serious import restrictions. The Group met with Members of
Congress and their staffs, as well as the Administration, to ensure
that U.S. government decisionmakers were aware of industrial and
economic reforms in the targeted foreign country, organized meetings
between Congressional representatives and high-level foreign government
and industry officials, and coordinated the coalition's policy
statements and briefings.
- On behalf of several clients, the Group helped defeat
legislation that would have exposed manufacturers to costly litigation
on claims of "price fixing" whenever they terminated a dealer that had
been the subject of price complaints by competing dealers.
- On behalf of one of the nation's leading television broadcast
groups, the Group helped secure passage of the Cable Television
Consumer Protection and Competition Act — notwithstanding a
Presidential veto — including important protections for independent
broadcasters.
- On behalf of a leading medical device manufacturer, the Group
helped coordinate the response to a yearlong Congressional
investigation into product liability issues.
- On behalf of one of the nation's leading dairy producers, the
Group helped enact the Prompt Payment Act Amendments, ensuring timely
payment on products sold to U.S. Defense Department commissaries — one
of the nation's largest buyers of grocery products. Subsequently, the
Group helped draft regulations implementing the changes in the law,
helped secure oversight hearings on agency compliance, and helped
obtain a Congressionally mandated study on commissary bill-paying
practices.
- On behalf of several leading financial institutions, the Group
helped draft an exemption to the Employee Polygraph Protection Act,
permitting the polygraphing of employees in investigations. On behalf
of the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Group also drafted a
detailed guide to compliance with the Act.
- The Group has drafted White Papers on numerous public policy questions, from airline deregulation to product liability reform.
- On behalf of a leading supplier of building products, the
Group constructed a state-by-state legislative response to efforts to
revise local building codes to disadvantage our client's products. At
the same time, the Group helped obtain Federal legislation endorsing
national building codes that sanctioned our client's products. This
work complemented the efforts of the Firm's Litigation/Antitrust
Department, which successfully prosecuted our client's competitors on
antitrust charges.
- At the request of the Joint Committee on the Organization of
Congress, the Group testified in support of efforts to reform
Congressional procedures.
- The Group helped defeat legislation that would have threatened
the security of banks and other financial institutions by limiting and,
in some cases, prohibiting the use of electronic monitoring in the
workplace.
- The Group testified before the House Judiciary Committee
concerning legislation granting new enforcement powers to the United
States government in international antitrust actions.
- On behalf of one of the nation's largest minority-owned radio networks, the Group helped draft and promote tax legislation to promote diversity in the telecommunications industry.
The versatility
of the Group's legislative practice is testament to the versatility of
the Firm itself. At the same time, any successful legislative strategy
necessarily draws upon the client's knowledge and experience. The Group
never loses sight of the fact that Members of Congress are most
responsive when they understand the implications of federal policies
for the people they represent. Therefore, the Group works closely with
clients in developing and implementing legislative strategies, taking a
"back seat" where appropriate, working in tandem with the client's
Washington office, if any, in a continuing effort to ensure that it is
the client's voice — and not counsel's alone — that is heard in
Washington.
An interdisciplinary legislative team is created for each project, as
appropriate, including those members of the Firm with recognized
experience in the issues presented by the assignment. Each project is
managed by senior legislative counsel.
The Firm's principal legislative counsel is
Christopher R. Brewster, who has served as Legislative and Committee Counsel to Senator Jack Danforth (R-MO), as Associate Director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, and as an Assistant Attorney General of Missouri. A former radio and television broadcaster, Mr. Brewster has lectured on the legislative process throughout the United States. He has also served as a commentator for The National Law Journal. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia School of Law, and attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
