New regulations, changes to existing laws, and other regulatory or enforcement shifts can have ripple effects that disrupt business-as-usual, inhibit innovation, and even imperil entire industries. Our administrative law practice combines our deep familiarity with administrative procedure with an extensive knowledge of federal (and many state) agencies and their processes to obtain results beneficial to our clients' interests, whether through rulemaking proceedings, informal presentations, agency adjudicative or enforcement proceedings, or in the courts, if necessary.
Our Attorneys
Our administrative law practice brings together lawyers from across the firm's litigation and regulatory practices to help clients wherever they confront governmental action that impacts their businesses. Core to our administrative law practice are attorneys who know how to challenge governmental action under the federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the U.S. Constitution, and other applicable law (or, conversely, to intervene to help defend governmental actions), and defend against agency enforcement actions either in court or before agency tribunals. In fact, many of the attorneys have held high-level positions at the DOJ, state AG offices, EPA, HHS, FTC, FDA, DHS, SEC, Treasury, and other agencies, adding valuable perspective about what works when trying to influence agency policies. Outside of the U.S. our Brussels lawyers address the regulatory concerns of our clients conducting business in the EU.
Engagement
Our practitioners know the regulatory programs governing a wide array of industries. We routinely prepare comments on proposed agency rulemakings and advocate on behalf of our clients in meetings with promulgating agencies, as well as with the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs — the clearinghouse for all executive agency rulemakings in the United States. But we also know that agencies sometimes issue regulations or take other actions with insufficient regard for what the law requires, both substantively and procedurally. In those situations, our administrative law litigators seek judicial remedies for our clients under the APA, constitutional or treaty provisions, or other applicable sources of law. Our administrative law practice draws on the experiences of attorneys across multiple subject-matter disciplines, and crafts strategies to achieve relief for our clients from unlawful or arbitrary agency rulemaking.
Similarly, when agencies order affirmative conduct, demand the cessation of certain activities, or unfairly penalize (or even just threaten to penalize) routine business practices because of an erroneous or arbitrary application of the law, our attorneys seek to prevent our clients' businesses from being disrupted: going to court (federal or state), seeking agency meetings, or working with congressional committees to obtain remedial oversight or legislative relief. Regardless of the forum, the key to our success is the collaborative, creative spirit that brings the broad experiences of our practitioners to bear on behalf of our clients.
When engagement with regulators reaches an impasse, an agency takes arbitrary or capricious action, or a private enforcement action or “citizen suit” threatens our clients' interests, our attorneys work creatively to achieve favorable results for our clients in courts, before administrative tribunals, and even in the halls of Congress.
Results
But don't just take our word for it: the results speak for themselves.