Government Relations & Litigation

Government can have a profound impact on business ventures, for good or ill. To help maximize the good and minimize the ill, we have assembled a team of experienced lawyers with strong political backgrounds and the proven ability to advance their clients’ interests with the government.

Government Relations
Davis Wright Tremaine represents clients in state legislatures regarding pending legislation and before executive agencies with respect to rulemaking proceedings and administrative law matters. Our government relations group is best known, however, for its ability to meld the talents of litigators and lobbyists in an effort to utilize litigation as a catalyst for legislative change.

Many of our lawyers have served as elected officials or senior staff and have years of experience in developing and implementing legislation and regulation of all kinds. This perspective, and the relationships that come with it, enable us to help clients in sophisticated ways.

We are especially good at being proactive about ways to improve our clients’ business by identifying legislative or regulatory changes, developing coalitions to support them and then working the process to conclusion.

Our services include the following:

• Strategic advice
• Relationship building
• Federal and state regulatory advocacy
• Coalition building
• Campaign finance compliance
• Lobbyist compliance

Click to view a list of our notable legislative accomplishments.

Government Litigation
Our firm has nationally recognized teams that serve a number of highly regulated industries, including health care, energy, communications, finance and hospitality, in disputes with the government. In addition to decades of experience working with governmental bodies on behalf of clients, many of our teams include lawyers who have previously served in government at the federal, state or local level. This gives us the insight and judgment to handle the most sensitive administrative proceedings, investigations and preemption matters for clients in those industries.

We also help clients, regulated or not, with environmental and other agency investigations, white-collar criminal investigations and prosecutions, tax disputes and government contracts cases.

• Administrative— We are experienced in seeking favorable rulemakings from federal and state administrative agencies and in responding to or challenging new rules on behalf of our clients. Our relationships with agency leadership and staff in such diverse areas as health care, communications, tax and insurance help us resolve issues at the highest level, if necessary.
• Government investigations— We have helped individuals and companies respond to grand jury investigations, government investigative demands, subpoenas and search warrants, as well as in facing ongoing investigations by a variety of federal agencies.
• White collar— We have defended corporate executives, directors, officers and other individuals against white-collar criminal prosecutions throughout the country in federal and state courts. Our experience includes qui tam and other civil litigation or administrative proceedings.
• Federal preemption— We have assisted companies in telecommunications, health care and other industries in seeking federal preemption of unfavorable state and local statutes and regulations.
• Tax— We have represented individuals and businesses in resolving local, state and federal tax disputes. Our experience encompasses all phases of the tax assessment, collection and litigation processes.
• Government contracts— We have represented government contractors in bid protests and contract disputes before the General Accounting Office, Boards of Contract Appeals and the Court of Federal Claims, as well as in federal district and appellate courts. We have also assisted debarred or suspended contractors in reinstatement negotiations.