Akin Gump Earns Top Spot on Lobbying List
Lobbying firms are making more money with a strategy that focuses on work that goes beyond traditional legislative lobbying.
The top 50 lobbying firms made $1 billion in gross revenue last year, Legal Times reports. Law firms dominated the list, taking the top seven places.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld was No. 1, with $89.8 million in lobbying income in 2007, an increase of 16.7 percent over last year, the magazine reports. Next was Patton Boggs, with $89.3 million in income, an increase of 25.8 percent.
More than half of Patton Boggs’ revenue was derived from work other than legislative lobbying.
The information is part of a Legal Times survey that measures income from lobbying Congress, states and foreign governments, and other related lobbying work. The “other” category accounted for a third of the gross revenue by the survey’s top 50 firms and is the fastest-growing revenue category. The magazine says many firms see the “other” area, which includes public relations efforts, as a “linchpin for future growth.”
Revenues at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal increased by almost $2 million because of its new strategic communications and public affairs practice.
Congressional investigations are “also plumping the bottom line,” the story says.
