Lobbying Law Leaders
John Bowie, LawFuel publisher
Big Law’s lobbying arms just posted their richest year on record, powered by Trump-era tariffs, AI and health policy fights—and a Trump‑aligned boutique has muscled past the traditional K Street giants as lobbying becomes a major new profit source for law firms in the US, UK and elsewhere.
A cluster of Big Law lobbying shops turned 2025 into a major revenue earner, an American Lawyer report shows, with politics and policy volatility creating the kind of friction that generates instructions and opportunity for law firms.
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Akin Gump, Holland & Knight, K&L Gates, Squire Patton Boggs and Hogan Lovells all beat their 2024 federal Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) numbers, with Brownstein and Akin recording the highest LDA revenue in their history.
Lobbying and public‑policy leaders in the US and UK report no sign of demand easing in early 2026. If anything, the election‑cycle drumbeat, ongoing tariff battles and AI’s regulatory arms race suggest that the “K Street effect” is still building.
For lawyers willing to treat policy risk as a core practice area rather than a sideshow, the model being written in Washington may be the most profitable precedent of the decade as Politico recently reported.
Work followed the pressure points in Washington: trade and tariffs in a more aggressive second Trump term, health‑care and tax changes driven by the 2025 Tax Reconciliation Bill, and fast‑moving AI regulatory battles in Congress and the White House.
For law firms watching the US policy market from afar, in London, Sydney or Singapore, the message is clear that the more uncertainty and disorder in Washington, the more valuable well‑connected, technically sophisticated lawyers become.
The Lobbying Law Leaders
- Brownstein reported about US$73.8 million in 2025 LDA revenue, up roughly 8 percent on the prior year and maintaining its status as one of K Street’s premier earners.
- Akin posted US$65.3 million in LDA revenue, a 15 percent jump over 2024, reflecting its heavily trade‑weighted practice in a tariff‑obsessed administration.
- Holland & Knight’s LDA revenue climbed to US$54.6 million, about 10 percent above its 2024 haul, with a strong fourth quarter.
- K&L Gates increased to US$20.7 million, while Squire Patton Boggs rose to US$23.1 million, both posting healthy year‑on‑year gains and stronger Q4 numbers.
- Hogan Lovells, which has announced plans to combine with Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, booked US$16.1 million in 2025 LDA revenue—a 36‑plus percent surge on 2024.
Brownstein’s government relations co‑chair Nadeam Elshami (pictured) framed the growth as the product of “talent, expertise and connectivity”, which may be a polite way of saying that in this market, a lobbying practice is only as valuable as the people who can pick up the phone to the right office at the right moment.
The Trump‑era outlier: Ballard’s rocket ride
The most eye‑catching 2025 story is not a Big Law partnership at all, but lobbying‑only outfit Ballard Partners, headed by Brian Ballard (pictured) whose Trump ties have translated directly into cash.
Ballard’s federal lobbying revenue exploded to more than US$88 million in 2025, more than a 350% jump over 2024 and enough to leapfrog the traditional powerhouses.
Quarterly numbers underline the trajectory with about US$28.7 million in Q4 2025 alone, versus a fraction of that a year earlier, as corporates scrambled for help decoding the second Trump administration’s tariff and retaliation strategy.
Ballard’s client list, who range from Netflix and JPMorgan to universities and entities in the administration’s cross‑hairs, illustrates a wider lesson for law firms: in a “politics‑first” regulatory environment, proximity to decision‑makers can matter more than size, brand, or even full‑service legal capability.
The Lobbying Law Firm Focus
The 2025 lobbying numbers are less about envy and more about strategy.
Trump’s broad‑based tariff programme has driven complex work at the intersection of trade, tax and supply chain law, with economists forecasting reduced US growth, higher household tax burdens and elevated inflation. That pain is generating instructions for those positioned as “problem‑solvers in Washington.”
AI is the new lobbying goldmine with federal moves to pre‑empt or override state‑level AI rules, and to frame a national AI regime, are pushing tech and platform clients to invest heavily in advocacy as well as litigation strategy.
Policy is now a CEO‑level risk. Akin’s lobbying co‑head Brian Pomper notes that 2025 was the first time trade policy was consistently on CEOs’ personal agendas, with issues like critical minerals and strategic supply chains now viewed as board‑level risks rather than technical compliance questions.
For non‑US firms with international or cross‑border practices, there is a clear takeaway: a credible government‑relations or “public law + policy” capability is no longer a nice‑to‑have adjunct to transactional work. It is becoming part of the core risk offering, particularly for clients exposed to tariffs, digital regulation, competition law and AI.
Where Opportunity Lies
The lobbying boom is a US story, but it also sketches a playbook for ambitious firms in other common‑law markets, including the UK and Australia.
In London, the major US law firms like Hogan Lovells and Covington & Burling have large lobbying (or ‘public affairs’) practices, while UK-based firms like Clifford Chance, DLA Piper and Mischon de Reya also populate some of the top public law/lobbying work.
Australia has firms like Clayton Utz, Allens and Barton Deakin who handle public affairs and lobbying work, among others.
The ability to build policy-literate practices with lawyers who understand issues like tax, regulation, trade and litigation, can see law firms move into ‘policy advisory’ roles even thought they may not be seen (or wish to be seen) as lobbyists.
Similarly, while many firms are racing to market AI implementation or IP protection, fewer are packaging offers to clients for AI governnance and public sector engagement even though there is significant revenue now being generated in these and related areas.
Firms like Ballard underscores that relationships, trust, campaign experience and knowledge can be leveraged into repeatable business with high profits and profile.
It is clear that the lobbying lawyer has a significant prospects for growth in an age of Trump- and AI-generated disruption, quite apart from an increasingly active regulatory and political global stage.
