Practice Areas & Industries: Pepper Hamilton LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Pepper Hamilton LLP's Public Policy Group develops and implements strategies for clients who want to impact the legislative or regulatory process or access public funding, or who have a need for assistance with an administrative law matter. The practice focuses primarily on state and local government. The basic areas of the practice are administrative and regulatory law, public funding opportunities and targeted legislative lobbying.

Services Available

The group includes a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, David Sweet (who also served as campaign manager for Governor Ed Rendell and was executive director of his transition team), and two lawyers who served as deputy general counsel to former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, Eloise Frazier and Donna Kreiser (Ms. Frazier also held key positions for Attorney General and Governor Dick Thornburgh and State House Speaker Matthew Ryan).

They have solved client problems, where millions of dollars were at risk, through skillful lobbying, advocacy and negotiation with state and federal administrative agencies and legislative bodies.

The group also has represented clients in matters before the City of Philadelphia, Allegheny County and a variety of other local government entities.

Other Pepper attorneys with a wide array of public service backgrounds can be called upon by the group when needed. These include former solicitors for the City of Philadelphia, counsels in various federal and state agencies, and a member of the boards of directors of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and the City of Detroit Local Development Finance Authority.

The group works closely with lawyers in many practice areas, particularly environmental, health care, insurance (litigation and regulatory), construction, real estate and the regulatory practices of our Washington, D.C., office. Members of the group also have extensive contacts with Washington, D.C.-based lobbying professionals and strong relationships with members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation. Moreover, through the activities of partners in other offices, the firm has significant experience working with the congressional delegations of Michigan, Delaware and New Jersey.

A partial list of representative engagements demonstrates the firm's accomplishments in the government relations area.

Currently, the group is:

• representing the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania in negotiations with the Rendell Administration on the expenditure of several hundred million dollars of additional Medicaid funds generated through the nursing home intergovernmental transfer
• advocating the positions of the Property and Casualty Insurers of America, a national property/casualty insurance trade association of more than 1,000 companies; insurance company solvency requirements, and other issues before the General Assembly and the Insurance Department
• providing strategic advice regarding major issues before the Governor's Office, executive branch agencies and the General Assembly to:
  • ACE INA Holdings, Inc., a multi-national insurance entity
  • Allegheny Energy Supply, a major generator of electricity in Pennsylvania and West Virginia
  • BearingPoint (formerly KPMG Consulting), one of the world's largest business consulting, systems integration and managed services companies
  • Fox Chase Cancer Center, one of the nation's premier cancer research facilities
  • Highmark, which was created in 1996 by the consolidation of two Pennsylvania licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and which is now one of the nation's largest health insurers
  • ION Health, Inc., a Medicaid managed care organization
  • NiSource Inc., which is engaged in the transmission, storage and distribution of natural gas and the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and which is the parent company of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania
  • Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association, which represents grocery and convenience stores in the Commonwealth
  • PMSLIC, a medical professional liability insurer formerly owned by the Pennsylvania Medical Society and now owned by NORCAL Mutual Insurance Company
  • Verizon (formerly Bell Telephone)
  • several major architectural, engineering, developer and construction companies, concerning business opportunities and economic development incentives
  • various governmental entities who are undertaking significant economic development initiatives, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Derry Township's (Hershey) Industrial and Commercial Development Authority, and the Washington County Authority.

Over the last decade, Pepper's public policy lawyers have:

• represented the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) through a State Steering Committee composed of the managing partners from Pennsylvania offices of each of the "Big Five" accounting firms
• provided legal and government relations advice to the Milton Hershey School and Hershey Trust Company
• represented the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania, a statewide association of for-profit, nonprofit, volunteer and government-owned ambulance providers
• represented some of the state's largest contractors and design professionals in monitoring governmental construction activity and identifying new project opportunities
• represented the interests of:
  • the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the national trade association of pharmaceutical manufacturers
  • Temple University and Temple University Health System
  • the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), which provides bus and rail mass transit in Southeastern Pennsylvania
  • the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society, which represents psychiatrists practicing throughout the Commonwealth
  • the Pennsylvania Bar Association, which represents the State's legal profession
  • the City of Pittsburgh and its Housing Authority
  • US Healthcare (now Aetna US Healthcare), a major managed care organization
  • represented several construction and health care companies in negotiations with the Office of Minority and Women Business Enterprise regarding compliance with certification requirements and bid documentation.

Other representative engagements include:

• leading successful efforts to amend the Municipality Authorities Act of 1945
• modifying onerous regulations proposed by the Department of Education
• having a major highway project advanced by the Department of Transportation
• obtaining a certificate of need from the Department of Health
• negotiating complex leases with the Department of General Services
• obtaining increased Medicaid reimbursements from the Department of Public Welfare
• negotiating economic development agreements with the Department of Community and Economic Development.