Government Affairs

Our clients include domestic, foreign, and multinational Fortune 500 enterprises, mid-size and regional corporations, trade associations, and other stakeholders across the country and abroad. Recent examples of our work include helping clients identify and participate in programs and projects resulting from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act, and similar legislation.

Experience where it counts, and at every step

An effective government affairs practice blends bipartisan experience with firsthand knowledge of key decisionmakers, their priorities and goals, and their negotiation styles. Our team includes former congressional staffers, executive branch officials, in-house lobbyists for Fortune 500 companies, leaders of industry trade groups, and individuals who have worked on numerous congressional and presidential campaigns.

The chair of our team is a former counsel to Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), and one of our senior policy directors is a former staffer to Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Our team also includes a former deputy chief of staff for policy at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and a number of others have also served as legal and policy advisors to Republican and Democratic representatives and for committees in both chambers.

Quick and responsive

We recognize that legislative and regulatory advocacy is time sensitive, and work closely with clients to develop strategic, multifaceted government relations initiatives that accommodate and align business timelines, legislative calendars, and economic cycles. As legislation progresses from debate and passage through rulemaking and investment spending, we help clients pivot appropriately.

Cross-disciplinary collaboration, across the policy and project lifecycle

As a core practice within our full-service law firm, we have access to the resources of the hundreds of Crowell lawyers practicing worldwide, more than half whom are based in Washington, D.C. Our government affairs professionals can connect directly with leading industry lawyers, no matter the nature of the client’s issues.

We regularly work with members of the firm’s national energy, environmental, financial services, government contracts, health care, infrastructure, intellectual property, international trade, privacy and cybersecurity, and tax practices. When agency audits, law-enforcement inquiries, or congressional investigations arise, we collaborate with Crowell’s experienced white collar and regulatory enforcement practices to help clients respond to queries from offices of the inspector general (OIGs), manage ongoing oversight, prepare for testimony before relevant committees and handle media relations.

Industry focus, market-wide results

Our team has developed specific, in-depth knowledge and a strong record of success in the following areas:

• Health care We regularly advise and represent clients in health care and life sciences issues before the White House, Congress and key agencies, including the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We also work with law-enforcement officials of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to help our clients understand and comply with complex legislation, including the Affordable Care Act, the Drug Quality and Security Act, the Safe Doses Act and more. Several of our team members have decades of in-house experience in the health policy and government relations units of leading global pharmaceutical and health care companies.
• Energy. We have represented mining companies, refiners, energy companies, utilities, trade groups and other entities in a broad range of matters, including new source performance standards, power from traditional and renewable sources, LNG exports and fracking. We have lobbied for and won changes to the Energy Policy Act, Energy Independence and Security Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, and a number of farm and transportation bills, regularly engaging Congress, the EPA, the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Department of Interior and numerous other federal and state agencies.
• Financial services. From before the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act to the current, rapidly expanding discussions on cryptocurrency, blockchain, distributed ledger technology (DLT), FinTech and InsureTech, we have pursued the interest of banks, investment advisors and brokers, commodity traders and advisors, commodity pool operators, public pension funds, price aggregation services and other financial services companies. In addition to helping shape legislation, we have worked with clients to understand, implement and comply with issues under the jurisdiction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and related agencies.
• Infrastructure. Members of our team have decades of experience working on federal appropriations and government contracts matters in the transportation and infrastructure sectors. We have helped shape key components of recent infrastructure bills and provided follow-on counsel to help clients identify and participate in federally sponsored projects across the country. We have also advised on legislation and policy designed to address post-COVID supply chain issues.
• Technology. If innovation is one of the primary drivers of the U.S. economy, then technology companies are in pole position. We have helped software developers, hardware and semiconductor manufacturers, outsourced technology providers and many other companies address and respond to intellectual property matters, including U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) policies and decisions. We also work with clients to influence and respond to technology-focused legislation such as the CHIPS Act, pandemic-related spending, reimbursements and emergency use authorizations (including approvals of vaccines developed outside the United States), telemedicine and more.