REPRESENTATIVE WORK

The Right Solution

Patton Boggs understands that each client has a different need. That’s why our attorneys are skilled in a number of areas of administrative law and can find the solution that helps a client further its business goals while minimizing risk. Our professionals regularly work with lawmakers and government officials to develop innovative regulatory approaches, persuade agencies to amend or reinterpret regulations and convince courts to interpret regulatory implementation of laws in the way in which we believe Congress intended. Each year, our attorneys appear before federal courts and government agencies thousands of times, representing the interests of domestic and international corporations, trade associations, nonprofit organizations and individuals.

Agriculture

• Counseled multinational food retailer on new requirements likely to be included in U.S. food safety legislation and advised on internal compliance mechanisms.
  
  
• Advised multinational food manufacturer on potential new school nutrition regulations and worked with Congress to develop legislation amenable to industry and consumer groups.
  
  
• Worked with a purchaser of agricultural commodities to affect through the regulatory process the impact of commodity price support legislation.
  
  
• Advised multinational food manufacturer regarding key changes to commodity programs in the 2008 Farm Bill and advocated industry interests before Congress.
  
  
• Worked on behalf of a leading land grant university to secure authorizations of research programs in the 2008 Farm Bill; engaged USDA on implementation of those and other Farm Bill provisions.
  

• Defending and opposing mergers and acquisitions on behalf of multinational corporations before the FTC, the DOJ, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other agencies of the federal government and the European Union.
  
  
• Representing multinational corporations and trade associations on antitrust and competition issues arising in the health care sector – including Medicare reform – before the FTC, Congress and federal agencies.
  
  
• Representing major companies in antitrust rulemaking proceedings before the FTC and other agencies.
  
  
• Defending companies that have been issued Civil Investigative Demands by the Antitrust Division of the DOJ.
  
  
• Representing individuals and companies in other civil and criminal antitrust investigations before the DOJ.
  
  
• Counseling companies on antitrust and competition policy issues before the U.S. Congress.
  
  
• Representing wholesalers and distributors on Robinson-Patman Act issues. 
   

Drugs/Biologics

• Counseling of manufacturers of biological products on all aspects of compliance associated with the safety, purity, and potency requirements of the Public Health Service Act and all matters pertaining to biologics licensure.
  
  
• Counseling of clients on compliance with the requirements of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act applicable to biologics, including all IND requirements, FDA policies applicable to biologics advertising and promotion both pre- and post-approval and FDA enforcement under this law.

• Represented plant owners in the licensing of commercial nuclear plants by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and sellers and buyers in NRC proceedings for more than a dozen utility mergers and acquisitions, asset swaps and asset sales.
  
  
• Represented nuclear power plant contractors and subcontractors in the negotiation, arbitration and litigation of engineering procurement and construction contracts.
  
  
• Represented one of the largest municipal electric utilities in the U.S. with respect to enactment and implementation of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
  
  
• Represented an Alaska oil and gas developer on emergency corrective legislation involving uncertainty in regard to state permitting actions for many resource development projects in Alaska.
  
  
• Represented wind and natural gas developers in Colorado on a legislative amendment to Colorado’s tax code requiring that property tax valuation for the state’s wind energy facilities placed into service after January 1, 2006, be based on the facilities’ production or income, rather than their cost or market value.
  

• Represented clients in connection with proposals adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission to restructure the National Market System through which much of the nation’s equity stocks are sold on various exchanges, as well as in connection with proposals to expand the class of investment advisers required to register with the Commission.
  
  
• Worked extensively with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and with the other agencies represented on the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets.
  
  
• Patton Boggs has assisted clients in connection with virtually every major tax bill since 1984.
  
  
• Assisted clients in regulatory and policy issues before the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service in matters such as the taxation of derivatives transactions, including cross-border transactions; the development of regulations to implement legislation with respect to the taxation of hedging transactions; and the taxation of both U.S. and foreign investment funds and their managers.
  

Food Security

• Worked on the development of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 and FDA regulations and policies to implementing that Act. We routinely counsel clients on compliance with Bioterrorism Act requirements.
  

• Received endorsement from the National Quality Forum of key dialysis-related clinical measures to support a value-based purchasing program.
  
  
• Advanced therapy cap exceptions process; Congress has repeatedly extended legislative relief.
  
  
• Achieved excise tax status parity for independent non-profit community blood centers nationwide in Pension Protection Act of 2006.
  
  
• Worked to advance reauthorization of the National Marrow Donor Program.
  
  
• Assisted in revising the Mammography Quality Standards Act in the reauthorization process to encourage greater flexibility for screening and referral programs.
  
  
• Obtained positive guidance from HHS regarding interpretations of the medical information privacy regulation.
  
  
• Drafted and advocated amendments to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act and minority health care and Homeland Security legislation.

• Provided counsel to more than 100 of the Fortune 500 companies on environmental, health and safety matters, including OSHA, MSHA, NIOSH, CPSC, EPA, DOT and ATF regulatory and rulemaking issues, claims, inspections and investigations,  program/policy reviews, informal penalty settlements, litigation and related insurance coverage matters.  
  
  
• Successfully defended enforcement actions and "whistle blower" investigations initiated by every federal EHS agency and many state agencies.
  
  
• Successfully defended dozens of corporate and individual clients against investigations and charges of regulatory criminal violations.
  
  
• Provided training to thousands of management personnel on liability risk reduction during agency inspections and investigations, and conducted privileged internal audits of regulatory compliance legal risks.

• Assisted a southeastern tribe obtain the only “Two-Part Determination” issued by the Department of the Interior in the Bush Administration.
  
  
• Assisted a California Tribe obtain one of the very few “restored lands” determinations from the National Indian Gaming Commission, thereby allowing that restored tribe to develop a gaming facility on the subject land.
  

• Representing clients before the SEC and other self-regulatory organizations such as the stock exchanges and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
  
  
• Participation in the rulemaking and legislative processes on behalf of clients to advocate a particular position, as well as on behalf of clients who look to the firm for information as to pending and possible developments in securities law. We assist clients with comments on SEC and Commodities Futures Trading Commission rulemaking proposals, Congressional testimony, and technical and policy arguments on pending proposals.
   

• Counsel to clients on spectrum transactions, including spectrum leases and spectrum acquisitions, whether through secondary markets transactions or spectrum auctions conducted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
  
  
• Counsel to clients on all wireless regulatory and transactional matters that are central to deployment and operation of wireless broadband systems.
  
  
• Developed the first practice in the nation that is dedicated to helping service providers – including telecommunications carriers, Internet access providers, network systems integrators and vendors – who participate in the E-rate, Rural Health Care and Low Income Programs through the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).
• Counsel to the E-Rate Service Providers Association (ESPA), a national association that voices the concerns of its members before Congress, the FCC, USAC, the media and the public.
  
  
• Assisting tower companies with FCC and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulatory compliance and enforcement matters, and provide counsel regarding state and federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) complaints and investigations.
  
  
• Representation of clients before Congress, the FCC, DOJ, USAC, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS), the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), FAA, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. Department of State, State Public Service Commissions and Legislatures, State Attorneys General and international bodies such as the International Telecommunications Union and foreign regulatory agencies.