Political Law
Foley’s Political Law Practice will work with you to help ensure that all of your company’s political activities meet the highest legal and ethical standards.
We are fortunate to have a knowledgeable team of attorneys who can represent you across the spectrum of nationwide political activity. Our Political Law attorneys have decades of real-world experience that they can share with you through two central topics of political law — campaign finance/election law and lobbying/ethics law and regulation. If you are a nonprofit organization, we can advise your group on potential tax and other legal requirements and implications for political and lobbying activities.
Our campaign finance attorneys advise corporate and nonprofit clients, trade associations, issue organizations, and donors on state and federal campaign finance and political compliance. Among other things, we can advise you on creating and structuring appropriate entities for political involvement, represent you before state and federal regulatory bodies, and assist you with compliance issues that arise in the course of political activities.
Potential compliance issues on which we can advise you include:
- Permissible political activity related to candidates, political parties, issue campaigns, and referendum committees
- Political and fundraising activities by your corporation and/or its employees and executives
- Political action committee creation, governance, and operations
- Contributions and disclosure reporting
- Permissible political activities for nonprofit entities under the Internal Revenue Code and other applicable federal and state laws
- “Pay-to-play” restrictions for corporations with government contracts
Our computerized database of the campaign finance laws and regulations in all 50 states enables us to respond quickly to your questions about contribution limits, prohibitions, and disclosure requirements from across the country and under federal law.
Our lobbying and ethics compliance attorneys provide advice and counsel to clients involved in lobbying on issues before federal and state executive branch agencies and legislative bodies regarding lobbying registration, disclosure, and reporting. We also provide advice and counsel regarding interaction with public officials and government employees related to gifts and travel provided from private sources. Among other things, our compliance counseling focuses on:
- Ensuring the timely and accurate filing of lobbying registration with the appropriate federal and state regulatory bodies
- Developing systems for capturing information needed for lobbying disclosure and reporting and assistance in preparation of lobbying disclosure reports
- Guiding you through the thicket of federal and state gift and gratuities laws related to gifts to public officials and employees
- Advising public officials and staff regarding potential ethical issues and conflicts
Some of our Political Law attorneys represent candidates and political party committees, on both the federal and state level. In order to avoid potential client conflicts, the attorneys practicing in this area represent only one party and its candidates — the Republican Party. Our representation focuses on the “business and regulation” of campaigns and politics, and includes:
- Contributions and expenditures compliance and reporting
- Business issues related to campaigns
- Interaction of federal and state ethics laws with campaign finance laws