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Political Law

Contact

Emily B. Erlingsson
Special Counsel, San Francisco
T: +1.415.983.1347
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Pillsbury’s highly talented Political Law lawyers deftly guide clients through the maze of laws and regulations applicable to federal, state and local political activities.

Pillsbury’s Political Law team possesses deep knowledge and exceptional experience in navigating clients through the laws regulating lobbying, campaign finance, gifts and ethical issues. Our experience extends from state and local election and political processes through the three branches of the U.S. government, enabling us to provide counsel on highly sensitive and complex matters to a diverse clientele.

With substantive and political experience at the federal, state and local level, we offer clients comprehensive and creative problem-solving services across all 50 states. Further, we provide preemptive advice on risks associated with lobbying, campaign contributions, ethics, conflicts of interest and reporting, and we are experienced in filing required political law disclosure reports with agencies at all levels of the government. We provide options for safe approaches to different political law issues designed to mitigate risk and ensure compliance with applicable laws. The group also has extensive experience in crafting political law compliance programs for large organizations.

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Our Political Law team advises and assists large corporations, national banks, trade associations, small businesses, lobbying firms, nonprofit organizations, wealthy individuals, educational institutions, initiative campaigns, and candidates for public office and officeholders, among many others. We have successfully advised clients and provided exceptional counsel regarding such matters as:

  • First Amendment issues
  • Government ethics
  • Compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act
  • Political contributions and fundraising rules and restrictions
  • Gift-related compliance rules
  • Government conflict of interest laws
  • Campaign disclosure and compliance
  • Pay-to-play campaign restrictions
  • Campaign fundraising rules
  • Campaign advertising rules
  • Political action committee regulation
  • Lobbying disclosure and compliance
  • Revolving-door laws
  • Government investigations

Representative Experience

  • Consistently monitored the actions of, and testified before, the San Francisco Ethics Commission regarding proposed changes to the City’s campaign, lobbying and ethics laws.
  • Successfully engaged in federal litigation in the City and County of San Francisco regarding independent expenditure contribution limits.
  • Represented clients in investigations by the Fair Political Practices Commission with positive outcomes and convinced the Fair Political Practices Commission to reverse its position in an advice letter to a client.

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  • Represented a large nonprofit educational institution by advising on compliance with campaign, lobbying and ethics laws.
  • Assisted numerous clients, including national banks, large energy companies, software companies and money management firms, in evaluating, designing, implementing and utilizing successful centralized political law compliance programs.
  • Effectively represented candidates and initiative campaigns throughout the election process and have advised officeholders following their election to public office.
  • Provide ongoing political law compliance advice to a large private university, including counseling the university on federal and state lobbying issues, gift giving to government officials and conflicts of interest. We also advise on campaign-related issues, including hosting federal candidate debates, student group activities related to elections, candidate visits, speaking engagements and meet-and-greets on campus, as well as tours of the university.
  • Provide ongoing political law compliance advice to a large software company, specifically advising on the rules regulating campaign contributions, state and local lobbying compliance and conflicts of interest.
  • Assisted national nonprofit trade association with assessment of lobbying activities under the Federal Lobbying Disclosure Act and the Internal Revenue Code.
  • Provide ongoing counsel to numerous clients regarding compliance with the Federal Lobbying Disclosure Act, including preparation and electronic submission of required lobbying activity and contribution forms (LD-1, LD-2 and LD-203).

Practice Area Highlights

  • Pillsbury’s Political Law team has been nationally ranked by Chambers USA for the past 13 years. In the 2023 guide, clients noted: “Pillsbury is always incredibly responsive and mindful of the sensitive nature of issues.” Additional client testimonials from the 2023 guide included: “The attorneys have been impressive in their ability to understand our business and provide streamlined guidance.”
  • Pillsbury has maintained an active Political Law practice for over 40 years, and we are familiar with the political laws in all 50 states, enabling us to assist clients throughout the U.S.
  • We take a bipartisan approach and maintain strong and effective working relationships with regulators.

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  • Our attorneys serve as expert panel members at the California-mandated state lobbyist training seminars and co-authors of the California lobbying summary provided to seminar attendees.
  • Attorneys in the Political Law practice are members of the California Political Attorneys Association and make presentations on various political law issues at legal education seminars sponsored by the firm for its clients.
  • Members of our team serve on the Board of Governors for Public Advocates and in leadership roles on the San Francisco Chapter of Links.

Resources

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