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Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck (BHFS) is a Denver-based corporate law and lobbying firm with offices in Albuquerque, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Phoenix, Reno, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Sante Fe and Washington D.C. There are 250 attorneys and policy consultants on staff, and its main areas of practice are corporate and business, government relations and public policy, litigation, natural resources, and real estate.[1]

In 2010, BHFS earned $23.2 million in lobbying revenues in 2010, putting it into the top five for the first time. [2][3]

In 2010, Open Secrets shows that the firm's PAC raised $329,335 and spent $157,239 on federal House and Senate politicians. Individual donors, mostly employees, gave $160,879 to the PAC. $99,900 was spent on Democratic candidates, while $54,300 was spent on Republican candidates. [4]

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

BHFS co-chairs the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force. Martin Shultz, Senior Policy Director in the firm's Phoenix office and a member of the BHFS Government Relations group, is BHFS' representative on the Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force, as of 2011.[5][6] (Shultz is also listed as VP of Government Affairs at Pinnacle West Capital Corporation, also an ALEC member).[7][8]

About ALEC ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org , and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site

Clients

According to the Denver Post, BHFS represents health care, financial services, and energy interests. BHFS anticipated that these industries would be key issues after the election of Barack Obama and the Democrats in 2008.[3]

The Post reports that "one narrow niche the firm has carved out is in the area of the interchange fees charged on credit and debit card transactions. The Electronic Payments Association and Discover Financial Services are clients.[3]

The firm also represented Western Union in an effort to help defeat a Senate proposal requiring money-transfer firms to post currency exchange rates.[3]

Former Vail Resorts owner Apollo Advisors, the private equity firm run by Leon Black, has been Brownstein Hyatt's largest lobbying client since 2008, spending $2.6 million with the firm in 2009.[3]

A full list of lobbying clients can be found here.





In The News

Brownstein’s Washington, DC lobbying practice was ranked #5 on Roll Call’s list of the top lobbying firms in Washington for 2009 based on revenue. The firm has risen in the rankings from #18 in 2006 to #5 in 2009.[9]

Leadership

As of 2011:[10]

Executive Committee

Blane R. Prescott - CEO

Bruce A. James - Managing Partner and Shareholder

Michael A. Pahl - CFO

Dean A. Nakayama - COO

Adam J. Agron - Shareholder

Norman Brownstein - Chairman of the Board and Founding Partner

Steven W. Farber - President and Founding Partner

Robert J. Saperstein - Managing Shareholder of California offices

Ellen Schulhofer - Managing Shareholder of Las Vegas office

Steven C. Demby - Shareholder

Lynda A. McNeive - Shareholder

Blane R. Prescott - CEO (ex officio member)

Dean A. Nakayama - CEO (ex officio member)

Lisa M. Simon - CEO (ex officio member)

Department Chairs

Corporate and Business: Kevin A. Cudney and Adam J. Agron

Government Relations: Alfred E. Mottur and Michael F. Feeley

Litigation: John V. McDermott and Peter J. Korneffel, Jr.

Natural Resources: Stephanie Osler Hastings and Mark J. Mathews

Real Estate: Robert Kaufmann and Ana Lazo Tenzer

Main Office:

410 Seventeenth Street

Suite 2200

Denver, CO 80202-4432

303.223.1100



Bruce A. James

Managing Partner & CEO

303.223.1167

bjames@bhfs.com



Website

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References