Public Policy

Gibson Dunn's Public Policy Practice Group helps clients navigate, promote, and protect their interests with international, federal, state, and local governments.  We work with clients to develop broad policy strategies using analytical tools, expert, first-hand knowledge of the policy processes, and personal relationships with key members and staff of relevant governmental entities.  The Group offers a "policy plus" approach that blends traditional lawyering and business skills with capabilities of a top-flight lobbying firm.  Some of the services we offer include:

• Providing in-depth and timely information about potential government actions that could affect our clients’ businesses
• Presenting clients with insightful analysis of these actions based on years of legal, political, and policy experience 
• Preparing clients to testify before Congressional committees
• Preparing and arranging for clients to meet with Congressional members and staff and Executive branch officials in order to present as compelling a case as possible
• Advocating on behalf of clients before the legislative and executive branches of government
• Representing clients who become involved in Congressional, Inspector General, or Government Accountability Office investigations
• Assisting with general legislative, committee, and floor strategy using our expert knowledge of Congressional procedure
• Analyzing and drafting legislation, including amendments to legislation, in a variety of fields
• Assisting clients in securing appropriations or other government benefits
• Helping clients market their products or capabilities to Federal government agencies

We also provide businesses with ongoing regulatory counsel in a large number of areas, including environmental rules and regulations, securities regulation, banking, thrift and diversified financial firm regulation, Hart-Scott-Rodino filings, regulation of communications, restructuring of health and pension benefits, OSHA standards, ERISA issues, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and Wage and Hour laws, tax laws, recapitalization and restructuring of financial institutions, and qualification for benefits under the United States-Canada, United States-Israel and North American Free Trade Agreements. 

The Gibson Dunn Advantage

Gibson Dunn's Public Policy Practice Group offers its clients a bipartisan team of experienced lawyers who have served in a wide range of government positions, including former members of Congress and senior staff of Congressional committees, federal judges, directors or solicitors of federal agencies and the White House Office of Management and Budget, and counsel to the President.

Unlike typical lobbying firms, we ground our work in traditional analytic and advocacy skills, combined with extensive experience in U.S. and foreign government operations.  While we have the credibility, access, and reputation to enable us to be heard, we also take pride in our ability to craft legal arguments and to advocate for our clients in the same way lawyers represent their clients' interests in other forums.  We advocate for our clients’ interests in a carefully targeted manner designed to achieve the desired result without fanfare or unwanted publicity.

We have experience in a wide variety of industries. Our successes include:

Financial Institutions

Our policy practice has focused significantly over the past 2 ½ years on the financial markets crisis and financial regulatory reform issues.  We have helped numerous clients navigate through the crisis, often with assistance from the government, work with Congress and the Administration on regulatory reform legislation, and shape and prepare for new regulatory requirements promulgated as a result of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Our recent work for financial institutions includes the following:

• Helped create and run Coalition for Derivatives End-Users, which has roughly 300 active company and trade association members.  The Coalition works on both legislative and regulatory fronts to help protect interests of end-user companies in the debate over appropriate regulation of derivatives.
• Also assist a number of individual companies with derivatives-related issues.
• Assist two industrial banks with Dodd-Frank-related and other issues, including possible unintended impacts of Volcker Rule.
• Assisting insurance company regarding possible designation as a systemically-significant institution.
• Helped and helping multiple financial institutions work to shape various aspects of final regulatory reform legislation that moved and is still moving through Congress.
• Helped multiple financial services firms participate in federal rescue programs at the FDIC, Treasury, and Federal Reserve.
• Assisted hedge funds and other private equity funds in assessing political and regulatory risk relevant to investment decisions.

Technology/Communications

• Assisting communications company overcome legislative and regulatory obstacles put in place by other companies.
• Helped social networking company navigate through congressional oversight matter involving questions concerning client communications and interface.
• Fashioned and implemented  legal and legislative strategy for our client, a major satellite manufacturer, that was under investigation by nine different Congressional Committees and the Department of Justice.
• Assisted engineering client in obtaining favorable governmental focus, attention and publicity on a new technology that enabled client to sell part of its company to a major firm for a favorable price.
• Assisted engineering client in the sale of a piece of its business which could not have occurred without state legislative assistance.

Defense

• Resisted hostile takeover effort directed toward high technology client with a strategy that involved review by senior Department of Defense officials of the proposed takeover based upon national security considerations.  Our successful efforts triggered a second Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust review and helped defeat the hostile takeover effort.
• Assisted major foreign firms in obtaining approval from the Department of Defense and other regulatory agencies for acquisitions of U.S. defense contractors and subcontractors and in responding to political objections raised to the acquisitions.
• Assisted several major aerospace companies with specific advocacy issues both in Washington, DC and in foreign countries regarding defense and transportation-related issues.

Housing

• Assisted multi-family residential property owners and developers and private equity fund investors in assessing legal, political and regulatory risk relevant to investment decisions regarding Mitchell-Lama properties, Section 8 vouchers and other housing subsidies.

Tax

• Assisted major media company, wholesale food distributor, wholesale consumer products distributor and other firms to obtain tax incentives, abatements and other relief for expansion and modernization of equipment, including under programs such as IIP, ICIP and NYPA.

State and Local

• Obtained large reparation payments  made available to owners and businesses in  Manhattan after  September 11, including reparations for the Battery Park City Homeowners Association and Century 21 Department Stores.
• Negotiated participating ground lease with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and acquisition of land and easements from New York City and New York City Transit Authority for development of Atlantic Terminal, Brooklyn, New York, an approximately 300,000 square foot urban vertical shopping center.
• Assisted operators in securing permits, permit transfers, and operator approvals to acquire and operate various waste handling facilities and routes.
• Assisting clients seeking funding for all projects in areas including renewable energy and healthcare facilities.