Jones Walker, a 360-lawyer firm founded in New Orleans, has formed a “strategic alliance” with the D.C. lobbyists at TCH Group. The two will remain separate entities while serving shared clients, Jones Walker said in announcing the deal this week.

Jones Walker services clients in the southeast and is looking to expand on its Louisianan roots. R. Christian Johnsen, leader of the firm's federal government relations practice in D.C., noted that his firm doesn't have a presence in South Carolina, where TCH represents the city of Charleston.

“We believe that the TCH Group has deep experience in a lot of important areas where we don't have the same depth, and they are particularly strong in South Carolina and very close to the South Carolina delegation,” Johnsen said.

TCH is led by ex-congressional staffers Michael Tongour and Brad Holsclaw, who each have strong ties with congressmen from the southeast. Former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson, R-Wyoming, was a named partner at an earlier iteration of TCH, and Tongour was a top aide to Simpson in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Tongour also worked as legislative director to former U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-South Carolina, before entering the lobbying world. Holsclaw was a top adviser for more than a decade to former U.S. Sens. Bob Dole, R-Kansas, and Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, for more than a decade.

TCH also lists two “affiliated consultants” on its website: Keith Heard, previously a top aide to former U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Mississippi, and Doug Wiley, formerly a senior public policy adviser at Wiley Rein.

“We were attracted to [Jones Walker] for a variety of reasons, including its strong presence in southern states, its well-deserved reputation for integrity, and for the value it has provided its clients for over eighty years,” Tongour said in a statement.

TCH's clientele hails from the pharmaceuticals sector and energy industry and includes a range of other companies and trade associations. TCH posted $1.34 million in federal lobbying income last year, according to records collected by the Center for Responsive Politics. The firm's four biggest clients were AT&T; Amgen Inc., a biotechnology company; Scana Corp., a South Carolina utility company swallowed up by Dominion Energy earlier this year; and Stericycle Inc., a medical waste disposal and compliance company.

Thus far in 2019, these four companies remain TCH's biggest clients.

TCH and Jones Walker have not yet begun sharing clients, Johnsen said, but they do have one client in common: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Jones Walker is the 120th largest firm in the U.S. as measured by total lawyer head count in the 2019 NLJ 500. The firm lists the co-leaders of its government relations practice group on its website as Kevin Ainsworth, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dennis Miller, located in Jackson, Mississippi, respectively.

The firm opened a D.C. office on Capitol Hill in 1990. Nine years later it entered into a strategic alliance with The Livingston Group, a lobbying firm founded by former U.S. Congressman Bob Livingston, R-Louisiana.

Jones Walker said in a statement it is maintaining its alliance with The Livingston Group and plans to look for opportunities for all three firms to work together. Johnsen said Jones Walker and The Livingston Group already share office space in D.C., and TCH Group would join them within six months.

“We know how to make a strategic alliance, and we know the ups and the downs of these types of relationships and how to structure the relationship so it is mutually beneficial for both clients,” Johnsen said. “These alliances if done right can be very productive and very solid partnerships.