Last month, the print edition of Washingtonian magazine carried its rankings of top Washington, D.C. lawyers — now available online. Washingtonian’s comment preceding the list indicates a truism of the current campaign finance regime: candidates need expensive, top-flight attorneys to stay abreast of our complex political speech rules.
Running for office requires more than just printing bumper stickers and glad-handing potential donors. Individual candidates as well as political parties and organizations can run into major trouble if they don’t follow campaign-finance and ethics laws. Here are the best lawyers to keep campaigns on track.
The chosen ones in the practice of campaign finance and election law:
Jan Witold Baran, Wiley Rein
Robert Bauer, Perkins Coie
Joseph M. Birkenstock, Caplin & Drysdale
Bobby Burchfield, McDermott Will & Emery
William Canfield III
Marc Elias, Perkins Coie
Craig Engle, Arent Fox
Sonia Fois, Arnold & Porter
Benjamin Ginsberg, Patton Boggs
Laurence Gold, Lichtman, Trister & Ross
Lee Goodman, LeClairRyan
Kenneth Gross, Skadden
Ki Hong, Skadden
Brett Kappel, Arent Fox
John Keeney Jr., Hogan & Hartson
Robert Kelner, Covington & Burling
Carol Laham, Wiley Rein
James Lamb, Sandler, Reiff & Young
Cleta Mitchell, Foley & Lardner
Lawrence Noble, Skadden
Lawrence Norton, Womble Carlyle
Trevor Potter, Caplin & Drysdale
Neil Reiff, Sandler, Reiff & Young
Joseph Sandler, Sandler, Reiff & Young
Scott Thomas, Dickstein Shapiro
Michael Toner, Bryan Cave
Lyn Utrecht, Utrecht & Phillips
Jill Holtzman Vogel, HoltzmanVogel
