U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. U.S. Capitol building. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Washington Wrap is a weekly look at industry news and Big Law moves shaping the legal business in Washington, D.C. Send news tips and lateral moves to Ryan Lovelace at [email protected].

The drama unfolding on Capitol Hill may be driving the public—and their therapists—crazy, but it is driving lobbyists' bottom lines as much as ever lately. Two federal lobbying shops reported second-quarter fundraising hauls north of $10 million this week: Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

Brownstein topped the list of federal lobbying firms for a given quarter for the first time ever, while Akin Gump said its results—just $10,000 behind Brownstein—arose from its strongest quarter in four years. Both firms are vying to be the top-grossing federal lobbying firm in 2019 with different approaches about the best way to do it. Official midyear revenue numbers are yet to be recorded, but Akin Gump appears to be leading Brownstein by $500,000 thus far in 2019.

When asked whether Brownstein would lead the way in federal lobbying revenue at the end of the year, Brownstein's government relations department chair Marc Lampkin said, “I never really know.” He added, “Both firms are full of tremendous talent and so both firms will continue to be busy.”

Akin Gump's public law and policy practice co-leader G. Hunter Bates said it is rare to see any firm top the $10 million lobbying revenue threshold in a given quarter, much less two. He said that performance is indicative of “a strong and healthy government relations industry in Washington.”

“We pioneered law-firm lobbying nearly a half-century ago,” Bates said. “Our focus is really on maintaining that longstanding commitment and expertise and, to the extent that puts us at the top of the rankings, so be it.”

The two firms' massive revenue hauls are attributable, in part, to the divided Congress and the regulatory and trade agenda of President Donald Trump's administration. Brownstein identified the financial services, pharmaceutical and tech realms as its big drivers. Akin Gump pointed to trade, health care, tax-extenders and privacy as where the action is. Bates said the talk on the Hill makes him believe action is forthcoming on drug-pricing and health care cost containment.

“I think the second half of the year will be dominated by health care [work],” Bates said.

Both firms indicated the conventional wisdom of a lobbying slowdown in a presidential election year may not hold in 2020, given Trump's approach to trade deals, a prolonged primary by the political party challenging the incumbent president and a potential looming rush to accomplish legislative priorities from the Hill.

Both firms also credited recent hires for their surge in 2019's second quarter that separated them from the rest of the pack. Brownstein issued a statement saying, “In this particular quarter, our next generation of Democratic lobbyists including Nadeam Elshami, Zach Pfister, Brian McKeon and Jerome Murray, have set the pace with their smarts and connectivity.” Akin Gump similarly issued a statement saying the firm's “results were also helped by our recent infusion of top-tier talent, including former top White House trade adviser Clete Willems, Sen. Joe Donnelly, Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lamar Smith, and others who added to our depth in areas such as privacy and immigration.”

Neither firm was eager to talk about any new talent they are eyeing or the clients they are particularly aiming to service in the coming months. Some of Brownstein's clients in 2019 include Anheuser-Busch, Apollo Management, T-Mobile USA and Walgreens. Akin Gump also lobbied on behalf of Anheuser-Busch, as well as the Alliance of Dedicated Cancer Centers, American Airlines and the Gila River Indian Community.

Law Firm Moves, News and Notes

With a few days remaining before Major League Baseball's trade deadline, a former Tampa Bay Rays prospect is on the move—to the U.S. Supreme Court. Former Rays prospect J. Matthew Rice was hired as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas. Rice was a catcher who spent a couple of years playing for Rays minor league teams before pursuing a law career and becoming an associate at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C.

The Rays organization said it is proud of its former catcher. “He was a good player; it's not like he had failure as a player at all,” said Mitch Lukevics, Rays' director of minor league operations. “It's very rare you get a young man to retire from professional baseball at such young in his career … probably he thought his mind would be better than his bat.”

He added, “Now he's in the Big Leagues! The Supreme Court! … He hit a home run, a grand slam.”

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius said this week it added Douglas Baruch and Jennifer Wollenberg as partners in Washington, D.C.

The white-collar and False Claims Act litigation duo are making the move from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.

Dominique Casimir left Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer for Blank Rome in D.C.

Casimir spent decades at Arnold & Porter and was most recently a government contracts partner focused on suspension and debarment matters. She is a partner in Blank Rome's government contracts group.

Marc Schildkraut joined Baker & Hostetler as a partner in D.C. from Cooley, where he was a partner for seven years.

Schildkraut is part of Baker & Hostetler's antitrust and competition practice and is a former assistant director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition.

For Rizwan Qureshi and Reed Smith, the third time might just be the charm. Qureshi is beginning his third stint at Reed Smith as a partner in D.C.

He was most recently an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia.

McDermott Will & Emery has acquired D.C.-based Farragut Square Group, a health care research and advisory firm.

The group will team up with McDermott+Consulting, the firm's formal lobbying shop that is also identified as McDermottPlus, to service clients in the health care realm.

McDermott's foray into the consulting market appears to fit a larger trend of firms considering acquiring or launching non-legal subsidiaries. Last year, Cozen O'Connor acquired a safety and security and regulatory compliance consultancy soon after launching an institutional response group aimed at addressing violence, abuse, security and other misconduct issues on schools and campuses. Earlier this month, MinterEllison—an Australian national law firm—added an infrastructure consultancy to assist with matters involving increased governmental and corporate spending on Aussie public works.

Eric Zimmerman, McDermottPlus principal and global head of McDermott's health industry advisory group, would not discuss the shared clients but said there is a lot of overlap between the two components. He said the mutual clients are “some of the biggest names in health private equity,” but he declined to identify them or the anticipated revenue resulting from the acquisition of the Farragut Square Group.