Government policies can make or break a business, association, profession, or industry. A change in policy can have a substantial effect on your bottom line. As a result, businesses and other organizations need effective ways to inform policymakers of the potential effects of the choices they make on the legislative floor. Working with attorneys who have experience in government relations and lobbying is one effective way to do so.
At Blanchard, Miller, Lewis & Isley, our team has the knowledge, skill, and legal insight to help you clarify complex policy issues and explain crucial information to policymakers in North Carolina. We help our clients target the key issues that political leaders need to understand, guide the development of strategic public policy objectives, determine how best to pursue our clients’ goals, and help our clients achieve them by identifying and leveraging opportunities within the legislative, administrative, and rulemaking processes.
Matters We Handle
Our government relations work encompasses state and local governments across North Carolina, including political campaigns, legislative initiatives, public controversies, and message development and delivery. Attorney Philip Isley has firsthand experience with many government matters, having served on the Raleigh City Council. We combine our experience in election and campaign finance law with our zealous commitment to discretion and clear communication to ensure that we help each client communicate to the most effective parties in the most favorable manner.
Matters we handle include:
- Formulating strategy
- Monitoring key legislative and regulatory processes and agencies
- Analyzing and drafting legislation
- Appearing before legislative committees and study commissions
- Preparing and delivering strategic, targeted messages to the press and public
- Providing legal advice on questions of government ethics, campaign finance, election law, and procurement regulation compliance
We combine our persuasive abilities gained at trial with our negotiation experience gained in transactional law to represent our clients effectively. In all matters, we are equipped to tailor essential messages to each interested audience, including state and local political leaders, administrators and regulators, economic developers, and the press and public.
How Lobbying Works
Lobbying is the effort to influence decisions made by government officials – most often local elected officials, legislators or those involved in administrative rulemaking, although lobbying of other government officials does occur.
The effort may be made for many reasons. Most often, those who lobby government officials do so because the official is in a position to make a choice that will shape the course of the interested person’s future. The interested person wishes to be heard on the issue before the official makes a choice. Frequently, the goal is to educate legislators or other officials. In all cases, the goal is to persuade.
Government officials simply do not have time to become experts on the myriad of issues they handle in any given year or legislative session. Even those who hold positions due to their experience in a particular field, such as regulators in administrative agencies, do not have the time to thoroughly research the nuances of every rule they consider. They rely on communication via government relations to fill in the gaps and provide necessary information about the likely impacts of proposed rules.
Professional lobbying is subject to extensive rules and regulations, many of which carry harsh penalties for violations. For example, many lobbying activities require those who engage in them to make extensive public disclosures as to the nature and extent of their activities. In some cases, the line between information that must be disclosed and information that may damage a person or business, or confer a strategic advantage to a competitor, is very fine indeed. Working with attorneys who know how to spot that line and how to prevent their most effective work from crossing it is essential.
Contact Our North Carolina Law Firm Today
The attorneys at Blanchard, Miller, Lewis & Isley have extensive experience navigating the complex web of laws that surround government functioning, from campaign and finance laws to lobbying requirements. We focus not only on ensuring a favorable result, but also on maintaining the highest standards of discretion, so that your work does not result in personal or professional reputation damage from an overzealous news media.
To learn more, contact our office today.