Practice Areas & Industries: Patton Boggs LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Telecommunications

Attorneys with extensive backgrounds in regulatory, licensing, transactional, litigation and public policy lead Patton Boggs' dynamic telecommunications group. Our professionals have been actively involved in the policy debates that affect virtually all telecommunications businesses. Over the last decade, we have successfully represented virtually every sector of the telecommunications industry: major long distance carriers, the leading ISP, the cable industry, newspaper publishers, a leading independent cellular telephone carrier, independent radio and television broadcasters, direct satellite providers, paging companies, a major foreign telephone company, and others concerned with telecommunications policy for the 21st century. The firm was actively involved on behalf of several such companies in the Congressional debates that ultimately produced the Telecommunications Act of 1996 ("the Telecom Act"), as well as the Telecom Act's implementation regulations.

Our attorneys have many years of experience representing clients on regulatory matters, including interconnection proceedings, rulemakings, equipment registration and certification, individual licensing, transactional matters and enforcement proceedings before the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and approximately half of the State Public Service Commissions. In addition, we have advised clients in connection with all aspects of corporate formation and operation as well as the purchase, sale and financing of PCS, cellular telephone and paging systems, AM/FM radio stations, pay telephone businesses, SMR licenses, ISPs, wireless cable authorizations and systems, 218-219 MHz Service authorizations and LMDS licenses.

Patton Boggs has represented communications enterprises as both plaintiffs and defendants in numerous federal and state courts across the country, including appellate matters involving regulatory and commercial disputes. The scope of these representations has included judicial review of FCC actions, antitrust matters and contractual issues. This work has included a constitutional challenge of cable TV regulation on behalf of a major cable television programmer.

Technology

From public policy to litigation, our team has extensive experience in domestic and international technology law matters on Capitol Hill, before executive branch agencies, and in the courts. Our work encompasses a broad range of industries, with particular strength in telecommunications, wireless communications, Internet, and emerging technologies, for educational institutions, non-profit entities and U.S. government organizations. We also have extensive experience in technology-related law from government-supported operations and academic organizations to businesses in the private sector.