Election Law Forum

[Anonymous User]

I've always worked on political campaigns and have always loved it. I was wondering if anyone knows what job prospects/salaries are like for attorneys at lobbying firms/consulting firms that handle election law for campaigns or PACs?

[MrKappus]

I was wondering if anyone knows what job prospects/salaries are like for attorneys at lobbying firms/consulting firms that handle election law for campaigns or PACs?

Seems to be the same for attorneys interested in other types of law. If you end up in a biglaw firm, you get lockstep. If you end up in a smaller shop, then it varies too much to generalize. I know Patton Boggs and Arent Fox have lobbying units. I'm sure higher-ranked ones do too.

[rinkrat19]

Perkins Coie pays market in some cities and below-market in smaller markets.

[Anonymous User]

I've always worked on political campaigns and have always loved it. I was wondering if anyone knows what job prospects/salaries are like for attorneys at lobbying firms/consulting firms that handle election law for campaigns or PACs?

If you're thinking campaign finance, I can tell you from experience that it's not as sexy as it seems. I'm not sure the things you love about campaigns will carry over to election law at a firm, on behalf of candidates and campaign . You're mostly doing compliance, e.g., reporting and disclosure. There's some amount of advising about what can and can't be done, but the chances of being involved in litigation or anything exciting are pretty slim. There's not even much of a prospect of being involved in a cutting-edge case because the Supreme Court has deregulated and decimated this area of law (the law in Arizona Free Enterprise v. Bennett wasn't even regulatory and they struck that down). There are other segments of election law that are really cool, though, like redistricting and other VRA challenges.

Anyway, I know this doesn't really answer your question about job prospects and pay, but I thought I'd add my two cents.

[traydeuce]

My esoteric weird little interest is defending towns and states in Section 2 suits. How do you even get to do that?

[Anonymous User]

Perkins Coie pays market in some cities and below-market in smaller markets.

They only represent Democrats though.

Edit: not saying this like it's a bad thing (I think it's a very good thing, actually), but that it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

[Anonymous User]

For political law:

Perkins Coie DC*
Covington DC
Skadden DC

In case it isn't obvious - go to DC

*I don't believe Perkins Coie DC takes summers. So you would need to start at one of their other offices, which should allow you do do political law on a smaller scale, and then hop over to DC and hang out with Bob Bauer.

[philosoraptor]

Plenty of fun to be had in election law at the state level. If you want to litigate, state government is a good place to start. You're not working for campaigns, but it could be a great place to get experience, make connections, and learn the ins and outs of the law before going private, if that's what you want.

[EijiMiyake]

Strumwasser & Woocher seems to do a lot of that sort of stuff. They hired summers out of HLS for the past few years, but I don't think they were at EIP this year.