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Government Relations and Public Policy

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Our experienced, bipartisan team has the capability and credibility to achieve the best possible results for you in the nation's capital.

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Why Baker Donelson?


12 former elected officials and presidential appointees
10 former congressional staffers
More than 30 advisors and attorneys, serving D.C. for more than 30 years
Home to public policy affiliates, The Howard Baker Forum and The Daschle Group, led by former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle
Named Among South's Best Economic Development Law Firms by Southern Business & Development

Featured Experience


Assisted a top-five international defense contractor to compete and win a $1.6 billion multi-year weapons system production contract from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Under the auspices of the Howard Baker Forum, organized national conferences and produced special reports on energy policy, innovation, technology policy, and nuclear energy with leading trade associations and think tanks, helping to frame national policy options.

Assisted a major manufacturer in obtaining a billion dollar science facility in Tennessee.

Practice Overview


Today's legislative climate demands persuasive arguments, economic justifications and innovative approaches that explore all avenues of federal support and relief. Our experienced, bipartisan team has the capability and credibility to achieve the best possible results for you in the nation's capital.

Our team is well positioned to help you achieve your mission through a customized and strategic approach, employing the most effective instruments from our "toolbox" of services, including:

  • Developing and shaping your message and strategically delivering it to key decision makers in Congress, the White House and the federal agencies, as well as to the press and the public where appropriate.
  • Helping you advance legislation on Capitol Hill, including through the appropriations process, where an understanding of the arcane budgetary rules and familiarity with the Committee Members and staff is essential.
  • Providing real-time information through careful monitoring of legislation, regulations and other federal initiatives, as well as through our extensive network of contacts.
  • Working with program officers in federal departments such as Defense, Transportation, Health and Human Services, and numerous other agencies to shape procurement opportunities.
  • Monitoring federal agencies for grants or other funding opportunities, helping you respond competitively and garnering congressional support for grant applications.
  • Building non-governmental support and leveraging that support with federal policymakers. This includes mobilizing grass roots organizations, as well as partnering with national coalitions, or building and managing new ones.
  • Drafting advocacy materials such as fact sheets, briefing papers, legislation, floor statements, hearing testimony, Dear Colleague letters, press kits and comments for rulemaking dockets.
  • Designing, developing and managing issue advocacy websites and blogs as well as targeting and growing their readership through a variety of digital strategies.

Baker Donelson provides clients with long term strategic counsel as well as day-to-day representation, helping to protect and advance clients' business through our knowledge of federal policymaking and its consequences. Our highly-regarded team includes the members of Baker Donelson's Government Relations and Public Policy Group, as well as our public policy advisory, The Daschle Group. Our federal policy team is comprised of professionals who have served on both sides of the political aisle, in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, as well as in the White House and federal agencies. That bipartisan experience and firsthand knowledge of how the federal government works is crucial to increasing your competitive advantage and ensuring successful policy outcomes.

Our team is familiar not only with the substance of the law and policy, but also with government institutions and their personnel and procedures. Perhaps most importantly, we have credibility with the nation's decision makers — a highly valued currency in the Washington public policy arena that is earned only through years of relationship building and honest brokering. This deep federal government expertise provides our clients with the strategic know-how and "boots on the ground" to help to realize beneficial policy, legislative and regulatory outcomes.

We have experience helping clients achieve a wide variety of policy goals in numerous areas, including:

  • Assisted a top-five international defense contractor to compete and win a $1.6 billion multi-year weapons system production contract from the U.S. Department of Defense.

  • Worked with the State of Kansas Governor's Military Council during the 2005 Base Realignment & Closure (BRAC) process, assisting the State in successful efforts which gained over 23,000 military and civilian positions – making Kansas the third largest gaining state during BRAC 2005.

  • Worked closely with the community surrounding Luke Air Force Base (AFB) to help secure the Air Force's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter training mission.  Luke AFB will be home to 144 F-35s, more than any installation in the world and received over $150M of federal infrastructure investment as a result.

  • Provided ongoing assistance to several public transit agencies in obtaining federal appropriations for critical capital projects.

  • Secured exemptions from the Federal Aviation Administration's initial round of sequestration cuts for contract control towers at certain airports which shared runways with defense aviation units.

  • Worked with a high tech startup company to gain release of funding being withheld by the Transportation Security Administration for the research and deployment of a system for real-time tracking of trucks hauling hazmat over the nation's highways.

  • Worked with a major university to increase its discretionary research funding.

  • Modified proposed Congressional language that would have denied a client the ability to operate in the U.S. defense market.

  • Introduced small businesses to new market opportunities in the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Homeland Security.

  • Assisted a trade association in securing federal funding for groundwater monitoring and report language directing the Department of Interior on how the money should be allocated.

  • Expanded direct federal funding for a number of not-for-profit clients.

  • Helped small businesses gain entry to testing and evaluation programs at leading Department of Energy National Labs.

  • Under the auspices of the Howard Baker Forum, organized national conferences and produced special reports on energy policy, innovation, technology policy, and nuclear energy with leading trade associations and think tanks, helping to frame national policy options.

  • Assisted a major manufacturer in obtaining a billion dollar science facility in Tennessee.

  • Reversed a pending regulation that would have crippled a major U.S. energy-related company.

  • Developed and managed national issue campaigns and coalitions for a wide variety of clients and policy areas.

  • Designed and executed think tank events on Capitol Hill.

  • Assisted a coalition of university based schools of nursing in securing meetings with the leadership of the Health Resources and Services Administration to provide critical information in the design of an education demonstration program.

  • Organized briefings of members of the House and Senate on issues related to university based nurse education.

  • Led federal advocacy efforts in meetings with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) addressing power mobility documentation standards. Worked to retract a restrictive mobility coverage policy, ultimately resulting in the development of a new National Coverage Determination.

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