Guillermo Artiles of McCarter & English/courtesy photo

McCarter & English is solidifying its move into lobbying practice, opening a small office near the state capitol.

The satellite, at 162 W. State St., provides a base of operations for the firm's government affairs practice, according to the attorney who leads it, Guillermo Artiles.

"The group really has grown in substance this last year," said Artiles, who started at Newark-based McCarter as an associate in 2016 and later left for a year to work as a legal adviser to Gov. Phil Murphy. Artiles returned to the firm in January 2019 as a partner.

He said the firm has engaged in lobbying "around the edges, historically," focusing more on regulatory counseling for clients, work that might be done in tandem with a true lobbyist. The practice now is engaging in legislative advocacy in such industries as energy, cannabis and technology.

"Prior to my return to the firm, [the practice was] more focused on regulatory affairs for clients," Artiles said. But since his return, "there's been more of a direct focus on lobbying," and more of a "need to be in the statehouse," he said.

It's not a new focus for him. Artiles first registered as a lobbyist in 2016, working for client Dell Technologies. Additional lobbying clients have come for McCarter, he said, naming as examples CenturyLink and Deutsche Bank. He said the group has taken on such issues as blockchain technology, e-cigarettes, cannabis and telecommunications.

Artiles will split his time between McCarter's home office and the new Trenton office. Fellow McCarter lawyers Robert Mintz and Omar Bareentto will spend time in Trenton as well. Mintz, managing partner of the firm's Newark office, is a former federal prosecutor and counsel to Gov. Tom Kean, and associate Bareentto is a former governor's fellow for Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute of Politics. Each, like Artiles, is a registered lobbyist.

The Trenton office comes on a one-year lease that commenced Tuesday. The space includes one traditional office and one open-concept office, as well as a conference room, Artiles said.

Despite the short-term nature of the lease, "we intend to stick around" in Trenton, where there is ample office space available, Artiles said.

McCarter joins numerous other New Jersey law firms that have substantial lobbying practices, often via lobbying subsidiaries. Those firms include Gibbons; Porzio, Bromberg & Newman (Porzio Governmental Affairs LLC); Archer & Greiner (Archer Public Affairs LLC) and Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti.

In addition to governmental affairs, Artiles counts intellectual property among his practice areas. He previously practiced as an associate at McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, and as corporate counsel at Greenskies Renewable Energy.

He left McCarter and spent 2018 as associate counsel to Murphy, who at the time had just taken office, before returning.

Earlier this year, Artiles was joined at the firm by his father-in-law, retired Chief Judge Jose Linares of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Linares joined McCarter last May to launch an alternate dispute resolution practice, and, in speaking with the Law Journal, cited the opportunity to work with Artiles as one the factors drawing him to the firm.