Since the 2024 U.S. election, business executives, boards, and policy experts are moving quickly to understand and traverse changing economic and political dynamics. Global law firm Alston & Bird is uniquely positioned with extensive legal and policy expertise – with connections to the most influential players.
Notably, the team includes:
- Jane Lucas, a trusted advisor in D.C., who served in key roles both for the first Trump White House and for Senate Majority Leader John Thune. She draws on this experience to help clients navigate the ever-changing policy and political landscape with an understanding of how to turn the risks and opportunities into wins for business.
- Joe Boddicker, who also served under Thune, most recently as his tax and trade counsel, and as a tax counsel for the Senate Finance Committee under Ranking Member Mike Crapo. Clients rely on Joe’s years of Senate tax-writing experience for guidance on emerging federal tax law and policy issues.
- JP Paluskiewicz, who served as chief counsel on the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, overseeing all policy matters under the committee’s jurisdiction. He brings his seasoned perspective, developed over his nearly 20-year career with the committee, to craft and execute the best advocacy strategies for his health care clients.
- Kristi Boswell, a former senior advisor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who also served in the first Trump White House as the agricultural voice in drafting H-2A regulatory reforms and immigration legislation. Her advice helps food and agricultural clients take on legislative and regulatory issues impacting businesses and rural America.
- Elinor Hiller, who previously served at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where she was most recently Administrator Seema Verma’s senior advisor for Medicare. As a career staffer, she earlier served as a CMS Office of Legislation group director, including during the Obama to Trump transition in 2017.
- Kevin Minoli, who was the lead attorney advising the EPA during the transition from the Obama Administration to the first Trump Administration and who served as the EPA’s acting general counsel for the first year of Trump’s first term. Kevin leverages his insider’s perspective and strong relationships with career and political officials to help clients with large- and small-scale energy projects and projects with environmental impacts secure the permits, approvals, and funding they need to move their projects forward.
Alston & Bird provides trusted counsel that enhances clients’ abilities to strategically navigate relevant activity in D.C. as the United States enters a new political era. We particularly focus on:
- Health Care – Every day, the team represents clients and coalitions before Congress and the Executive Branch, including CMS, HHS, and FDA. Our relationships and substantive health care expertise make us adept at influencing lawmaking at every stage. We help you maneuver the legislative and regulatory process – from political support to passage and implementation – by enhancing your brand inside the Beltway. Our team can serve as your eyes, ears, and voice when interacting with the government’s power players.
- Tax – Tax law is driven by politics, policy, and process. Our clients grapple with the intricacies of the tax laws and an ever-changing legislative and regulatory tax climate that can significantly impact their businesses. We combine our political, policy, and substantive legal experience to craft and deliver the right message that reaches the right audience at the right time to achieve your objectives. Whether you seek to protect favorable tax provisions, modify current policies, or defend against tax increases, we collaborate to execute on proactive and reactive strategies that prove effective in an uncertain environment.
- International Trade – International trade continues to make headlines, especially as the new Administration takes shape and signals hawkish stances. New tariffs on a wide range of products from multiple countries are expected, along with the continued expansion of export controls targeting Chinese technology development, changes in sanctions programs, and continued expansion of the forced labor enforcement apparatus affecting so many U.S. imports. Within this evolving political landscape, our attorneys and policy teams deliver a one-stop shop, providing you with a thorough understanding of the legal and regulatory issues that create opportunities – and risks – for companies operating internationally and that rely on global supply chains and financial markets.
- Food, Beverage & Agribusiness – We are actively advising clients as they navigate USDA and FDA regulatory and enforcement matters and are engaging to inform congressional and Administration policy priorities. We can distill regulatory proposals and final rulemakings; appeal final agency action; identify and educate champions in the Administration; and provide real-time updates on the transition process, policy discussion, and incoming personnel.
- Immigration – Our immigration clients are supported by a team that has over 112 years of immigration experience combined. Our attorneys have also been leaders on committees of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that routinely meet with government officials to obtain information on the implementation of immigration policies and to advocate for and recommend changes to immigration policies. We are uniquely positioned to help you identify operational issues that need to be rectified ahead of the Administration change, craft a strategic plan for retention of foreign national workers, and create a robust plan of action to mitigate the potential impact of prospective delays and loss of labor force that may result from the anticipated tidal wave of changes to immigration law.
- Energy & the Environment – Whether it involves fossil fuels, renewables, or energy storage, no energy project is immune from the potential impacts of today’s politically charged environment. We help clients looking to break new ground, literally and figuratively, on energy and commercial projects and technologies to position their project to gain governmental support and reduce the risk of becoming a political talking point.
Click to learn more about our Legislative & Public Policy Team.