Arent Fox’s Political Law Group advises a wide range of political, corporate and nonprofit clients on every aspect of state and federal election law, campaign finance regulation, lobbying compliance, communications law, tax and government ethics.
Craig Engle, head of the Political Law Group, has more than 20 years experience in campaigns and election law. He leads a team of attorneys and professionals who regularly advise candidates, office holders, political parties, PACs, 527s, corporations, trade associations and other nonprofits. The political law team counsels clients on Federal Election Commission (FEC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations; the Lobbying Disclosure Act, the Foreign Agents Registration Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. We also have tremendous experience advising clients in defense of libel claims and on political contracts, nonprofit governance, polling, direct mail and Internet communications, and political advertising as well as FEC, IRS and state-based reporting.
Arent Fox represents candidates, political committees and corporations on both federal and state levels on a broad range of legal issues, including obtaining advisory opinions, defending enforcement actions and litigation. We advise on how to solicit, make, receive and report campaign contributions under federal and state law. We have helped clients develop innovative and effective Internet fundraising, issue advocacy and independent expenditure campaigns.
Political committees can also out-source all their financial office operations to Arent Fox. We collect contributions, make deposits, write checks, maintain databases, correspond with donors, reconcile bank statements, and file FEC and IRS reports. Our team includes a professional political treasurer and fundraising specialists. We perform these daily administration, compliance, and reporting functions for a number of congressional campaign committees, political action committees, 527 organizations and other political entities.
As regulation of campaigns has increased, so have issues concerning state agencies, the FCC and the US Postal Service. Arent Fox has broad experience in state and federal political broadcast law for all political participants. We advise groups and individuals seeking to conduct issue-advocacy campaigns and counsel clients on the distinctions between issue-advocacy, express-advocacy and electioneering communications. Importantly, we also advise clients on the claims contained in political advertisements and defend against charges of libel.
The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 imposes extensive compliance requirements on corporations, trade associations and individuals who communicate with Congress, the administration and certain government agencies. We assist clients, including defense contractors, with developing comprehensive compliance systems. In addition to the federal rules, many corporations and trade associations must comply with widely divergent rules in various states. Our political law attorneys track changes in state laws and assist clients with compliance and reporting. We also have extensive experience in the closely watched arena of state and federal gift regulation.
Arent Fox assists in the formation and operation of many types of tax-exempt entities, including issue advocacy groups, trade associations and political organizations. We advise our political law clients on corporate and tax matters, compliance with state registration requirements and obtaining federal tax exemptions. Many of our tax-exempt clients are subject to regulation from state and local campaign, corporate and tax agencies as well as the FEC and IRS.
© 2012 ARENT FOX LLP
