Public Policy & Strategic Communications

Sonnenschein’s Public Law & Policy Strategies practice employs more than 60 lawyers and non-lawyer professionals.  We work at the very highest political levels, and at the grassroots.  We are active in Washington, DC and in the states.  Our colleagues include former members of Congress, state and local elected officials, and senior political appointees, as well as many professionals fresh from the offices of Congressional leadership, committees, and individual members. As a specialty within our group, we have a large and very successful strategic communications and public affairs practice that specializes in industry coalition management and advocacy.

A Leading Washington Lobbying Practice

Sonnenschein’s lobbying practice is top-rank.  Our lobbying team was honored in Chambers USA:  America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2007.  Our lobbying practice is the 9th largest in the country.  Our political action committee has been the largest or second largest law firm PAC for the past two years, and we will contribute more than $1 million this election cycle.  Roll Call magazine described our practice as a “K Street Beast.”

Capitol Hill Experience

Most of the members of the group worked on Capitol Hill as committee staff or in the offices of individual Senators or Representatives.  We employ former staff to, among others, the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the House committees on Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, and Natural Resources; and the Senate committees on Energy and Natural Resources and Finance.  Our colleague Van Hilleary served four terms as a Member of the House of Representatives. 

Access to Top Decision-makers

Our access to and daily working relationship with the top leadership of both political parties is a powerful asset on Capitol Hill and elsewhere. Our partner Joe Andrew is chair of the New Democratic Network, served as chair of the Democratic National Committee during the Clinton Administration, and chaired the 2004 Democratic Convention.  Fred McClure served the first President Bush as Assistant for Legislative Affairs, was Vice Chair of the Texas A&M board, and recently served on the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Council.  Wayne Rogers is former chair of the Democratic Party in Maryland.  Darry Sragow, California’s former Deputy Insurance Commissioner, managed five successful election campaigns for statewide office in California, two for U.S. Senate and three for Governor, and was chief campaign strategist for the Democratic members of the state assembly for more than eight years. 

Claude Fontheim recently brought Fontheim International, one of the most well known and respected international consulting firms in the world, into a strategic alliance with Sonnenschein.  Fontheim International, now co-located in Sonnenschein’s Washington office, has a reputation for producing results for its clients in the areas of corporate social responsibility and government relations, and is also a leader in helping companies engage and develop innovative partnerships with diverse stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations, to address environmental, development and other challenges.  Claude Fontheim, now a partner in Sonnenschein, is active in national and international organizations, including the U.S. Department of State's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy. 

Congressional Relationships Related to Energy Policy

We enjoy strong relationships with Members on the Congressional committees and subcommittees of interest to the energy industry, consumers, and investors.  We maintain close contacts with Members on each of the relevant Committees, both House and Senate, on both sides of the aisle.

We work regularly on energy related matters with the House Committees on Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources and Transportation and Infrastructure.  We represent clients with significant matters before the Senate Committees on Energy and Natural Resources and Environment and Public Works. 

Federal Agency Relationships

Sonnenschein enjoys a high level of engagement with federal agencies and a far-reaching network of well-developed relationships with key officials and authorities.  Sonnenschein has worked with many agencies relevant to the energy industry, consumers, and investors s in the course of serving our clients.  We work routinely with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Office of Management and Budget, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of the Interior, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, and Department of Defense. 

The members of our government affairs team who served in senior positions in the Executive Branch have highly unusual experience coordinating among federal agencies and facilitating the interaction of Congress with multiple agencies on individual matters. 

Strategic Communications and Public Affairs

We are effective working on Capitol Hill and with the federal agencies for a number of reasons, but an increasingly important factor is our highly successful Strategic Communications & Public Affairs team. 

The Strategic Communications team is led by Audrey Young.  It includes Sonnenschein professionals in our Washington office, and a tightly coordinated network of affiliated government affairs and communications professionals spread throughout the country -- literally in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.  Centered on the core group in Washington, the team for a particular client can be “custom built” to meet specific substantive, geographic, or political needs.  Our state team affiliates are “kitchen cabinet” level professionals with access to current Governors, key legislators, and influential third party organizations. 

The Strategic Communications & Public Affairs team works in many substantive areas, but tends to be called on by companies that need to plan and execute long-term public affairs strategies or are facing immediate crises of a political, competitive, financial, or other nature.

The team’s services include traditional lobbying activities, but reflect a very deep resource for companies seeking to shape the opinions of decision makers in Washington and elsewhere. The Strategic Communications & Public Affairs team helps our clients create and deliver the messages that underpin the most successful and efficient lobbying efforts.

The team’s services include:

Research -- Accurate, ongoing research is the foundation of any successful initiative.  The team gathers political intelligence, public opinion research, or tracking and analysis and dissects the information to determine the best way to proceed in the decision making environment.  Where appropriate, focus groups are engaged to help identify the best way to reach key decision makers, influence trends, hone messages, determine local, state and federal strategies, mitigate crises, minimize regulatory hurdles, and gauge success.

Message & Credibility Testing -- Clear, concise and consistent messages are critical in any advocacy effort.  Effective spokespeople who can deliver messages with discipline are also essential, especially at hearings, media briefings, and one-on-one interviews.  The team helps clients identify and prepare articulate, compelling and credible spokespeople.  Training typically includes in-depth explanation of interview ground rules and goals and simulated interviews, including message delivery and mock question and answer sessions.

Coalition Building & Management -- The team specializes in designing and managing public affairs campaigns for groups of individual companies that have a common interest in a particular issue.  Corporations, trade associations, and interest groups regularly turn to us to develop and help implement extremely targeted tactics and messages that keep all parties speaking with a unified voice and focused on the overarching policy objective.  We set and manage budgets, organize meetings, coordinate outreach, provide intra-coalition communications, oversee consultants, and generally keep a herd moving as one.

Third-party Advocacy -- Third-party advocates bring nuance and perspective to local, state and national debates.  We identify thought leaders, issue experts, and other compelling figures who are able to offer a unique and effective opinion about your policy position.  Our multimedia tactics include: editorial board meetings, earned media, public testimony, Web petitions and online video, advertising, expert studies, blogs and meetings with political officials.  

Media Relations -- Our team includes former reporters who understand how to push for balance in profile stories about corporations, non-profit organizations, executives, and political figures at all levels of government.  Whether there is a need for rapid or “routine” response, our fully-engaged professionals are credible and respected.

Comprehensive Lobbying Services

Our lobbying services are comprehensive, and include the following:

• Assisting in development and advancement of legislative and regulatory strategy;
• Preparing, submitting and tracking appropriations requests and authorizing legislation;
• Responding to agency requests and maintain executive branch relations;
• Providing general legislative and advocacy monitoring;
• Providing specific products and legislative updates upon request by clients or on a preset schedule;
• Supporting client meetings with opinion shapers and decision makers;
• Preparing written testimony, comments, Op-Eds, and correspondence;
• Preparing clients to testify; and,
• Preparing and filing lobbying reports.