Practice Areas & Industries: Holme Roberts & Owen LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

HRO’s government relations practice offers to our clients a wholly different and very powerful approach to solving their greatest problems with the government. 

The firm’s government relations practice has several aspects. We use our understanding of the workings of local, state and federal government to help our clients understand when particular government approaches might solve a significant problem. We help our clients to devise strategies to attain the solutions they require. And HRO’s lawyers have personal relationships and credibility with government officials at all levels of government, and can help arrange appointments for clients and advise on how to work with those officials. HRO’s involvement brings the trust and credibility and relationships often necessary to reach a solution.

HRO has an extensive and highly experienced lobbying practice based in Utah, and the firm continues to serve many government relations clients from Salt Lake City.

Not every problem involving the government is amenable to a solution that lies outside ordinary legal approaches (including litigation or lengthy and complicated regulatory negotiations). But many of the largest and most difficult problems for our clients often pose equally significant difficulties for elected and appointed officials in the legislative and executive branches of state and federal government. These problems often are candidates for fruitful negotiation and settlement directly with officials involved.

When direct negotiation and settlement at the highest levels of government are successful, the possible solutions can be much broader, comprehensive and valuable for the client than traditional legal approaches. In appropriate circumstances, otherwise insurmountable agency boundaries can be overcome.  For example, officials at the highest levels of government usually see and understand the big picture in ways not understood or accessible at lower levels of government. HRO’s government relations practitioners can help our clients to recognize when it is appropriate to pursue broad problem-solving at the highest levels of local, state, or federal government.

HRO is expert and experienced at helping its clients to formulate a strategy to solve their problems. This often involves identifying the correct part and level of government to approach. It requires an experienced understanding of the broad government situation involved, including the legal, political and practical issues posed and the circumstances facing the officials involved. And it requires experienced understanding of the possibilities for a resolution that can further the client’s interests while also satisfying the governments’ needs. This approach requires proper preparation for the client, too, so the client understands what to expect from a sometimes unusual process.

HRO’s practitioners have the personal relationships with government officials that are helpful to gain access for the client to the proper level of government. The participation of HRO lawyers in this type of approach provide a background of credibility for the client’s requests. HRO brings credibility and trust for its clients — based upon HRO’s own reputation.

HRO’s government relations lawyers have worked with officials at all levels of government. These officials range from statewide elected officials and state legislators, to management and line lawyers within Departments of Law and other agencies in the state and federal government, to representatives elected to the United States Congress. In appropriate circumstances, those relationships can open doors for HRO’s clients to allow the clients to discuss issues directly with the official who makes the decisions most important to a resolution.

Finally, HRO’s lawyers use their relationships with, and understanding of, the government officials involved to underscore the desirability of a client solution — recognizing the motivations of the officials involved, whether practical, political, or otherwise. If an official can be given credit for a solution to a significant problem for the government (as well as the client), that is often a useful approach. Or, if a problem faces a roadblock from a second official, or in another agency, HRO’s lawyers can help to arrange for that impediment to be discussed and overcome.