Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Election Law

Helping Clients Deftly Navigate the Political Landscape
The past decade’s well-publicized and heavily contested national and state elections, as well as increased investigations into the political process, have turned politics into a closely watched activity. As election laws and procedures become more complex, the potential for missteps, and their ensuing consequences, is greater without the guidance of experienced counsel.

Manatt’s nationwide election law practice offers the know-how required to ensure clients adhere to the rules and compliance requirements of elections and other political activities. Our practice combines in-depth industry and regulatory knowledge with a unique understanding of the political process, drawing on the experience of lawyers with backgrounds as elected officials, political staffers and senior members within government agencies.

We counsel elected officials, candidates, political committees, financial institutions, lobbying firms, business entities, trade associations and individual contributors on the issues surrounding the conduct of elections, including: 

• Campaign contribution limits
• Independent expenditures
• Advertising regulations
• Disclosure requirements 

Our attorneys also advise clients on voter registration matters, ballot pamphlet issues, candidate qualification and nomination processes for elections, initiatives and referenda, ballot security, election recounts and contests and recall efforts. We also assist clients in the formation and maintenance of their Political Action Committees (PACs), the formation of Independent Expenditure Committees, and filing of federal, state and locally required campaign contribution reports.

In investigations, our nationally recognized attorneys have substantial experience representing federal, state and local candidates and other clients before the Federal Elections Commission and the California Fair Political Practices Commission, as well as in federal and state courts. 

Ensuring Election Law Compliance
Our attorneys have advised presidential candidates, congressional candidates, as well as candidates for various state and local offices regarding compliance with the complex array of federal, state and local laws regulating campaign operations and contributions. We also help state and federal political committees, business entities, trade associations and individuals comply with the various laws regulating campaign contributions, as well as related activities that involve lobbying, political ethics, conflicts of interest and foreign agent registration.

Taking the Political Fight to the Courtroom
Manatt’s litigation and political practices converge when we represent candidates, committees and others accused of violating election and campaign law. Our attorneys represent clients in litigation over the legality of contributions, ballot access and designation, and reapportionment. 

Sometimes, hotly contested political campaigns end up being decided in the courtroom, not the ballot box. In these instances, we have represented clients in both state and nationwide recounts and election contests.

Tackling Initiatives and Ballot Measures
As part of our grass-roots political efforts, Manatt advises committees formed to support—as well as oppose—ballot initiatives and measures. Our attorneys have drafted many of these proposals, analyzed the propriety of initiatives proposed by others, advised committees on contribution and reporting rules, and even helped prepare voter information materials in support of our clients’ positions. We have also brought and defended challenges to local and statewide initiatives.

Diversity at Manatt

Manatt considers diversity to be a fundamental component of our institutional identity. As a law firm, we have a professional responsibility, and as individuals, we have a personal responsibility to our respective communities. Incorporating diversity into our culture allows us to enhance the high-quality, creativity and excellence in legal services that our clients have come to expect.

Manatt has invested a significant amount of human and financial resources in our own diversity program. Our philosophy is simple: include women and minority lawyers at all levels of Firm leadership and promote diversity in the legal profession through our support and active involvement in various minority civic and bar organizations.

The mix of our minority and women attorneys has consistently exceeded the national average among the country's top law firms. Our talented mix includes minority and women lawyers serving as heads of offices, members of the firm's Board of Directors and management team, and chairs of some of the firm's most important practice groups.

Inclusive Culture
Our progressive culture allows us to maintain a growing mix of women and minority lawyers, and the results illustrate this commitment.  The American Lawyer ranked our Firm 29th (in the top 12%) on its Diversity Scorecard for the largest 250 law firms in the country for 2009.  Multi Cultural Law Magazine included our Firm on its 2008 lists of the Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity, Top 25 Law Firms for Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and Top 25 Law Firms for Openly Gay/Lesbian Americans.

Despite our progress and diversity success, we can do better.  Our challenge extends far beyond exceeding national averages.  Our plan cannot succeed if we focus only on recruiting minority and women attorneys.  The true challenge and measure for achieving success lies in creating and preserving an inclusive environment where our minority and women lawyers will stay, progress, prosper and succeed.  We have implemented a formal diversity program designed to enhance our recruiting and retention of diverse attorneys through an executive mentoring program intended to cultivate personally and professionally meaningful relationships between our diverse lawyers and our partners. 

Our commitment to diversity exists in a living document – a plan – that is concrete, easy to understand and publicly available.  The plan demonstrates to every law school student, lateral associate candidate, lateral partner candidate, recruiter, existing client, and potential client that we are serious about creating a workplace that mirrors the breadth of the communities where we and our clients live and work.

We focus on the following key areas to accomplish our mission.

Targeted Recruitment Effort
At Manatt, recruiting women and minority attorneys does not end on law school campuses. Our recruiting efforts focus on locating talented women and minority lawyers at all levels. At law schools, we seek out and interview students who share our core values in ways shaped and enhanced by their own experience. Manatt's 2005 Summer Program was the most diverse in the Firm's history. Our nine 2005 Summer Associates included two African-American students, three Hispanic students, one Asian-American student and three Caucasian students. Five of these nine students were women.

Mentoring as a Cornerstone
Minority attorneys who join Manatt as new or lateral hires immediately become the focus of a mentoring program. They are paired with senior attorneys who take an active role in encouraging their career development. Mentors actively work with their protégés, helping them form business plans and involving them in firm-wide marketing and development opportunities. Management holds mentors accountable for their roles and their protégés' progress at the Firm, including reviewing their efforts as part of the evaluation and compensation process.

Access to Opportunity
Success is a matter of talent and opportunity. At Manatt, we believe that the key to retaining talented minority attorneys -- and therefore the key to the success of our diversity efforts -- is providing a distinctive experience that offers clear access to professional accomplishment. We provide women and minority attorneys with important responsibilities and leadership opportunities in client development activities, complex litigation, large transactional matters and high-profile community and civic organizations. We also encourage and support minority and women attorneys who take leadership positions within the firm and outside in the community at large.

Long-Term Commitment
We challenge ourselves to make our young lawyers feel valued, involved and invested in the future of the firm. We know that they will eventually occupy the most important financial, management and executive positions at Manatt. Our professionals thrive in an atmosphere that encourages and supports responsibility, ambition, and entrepreneurship. We offer true opportunity equal to individual commitment to success and advancement. That's the history of opportunity at Manatt, where professionals with talent and drive are rewarded with a nurturing, dynamic and energizing climate.

Promoting Diversity
Promoting diversity in the legal profession requires both an investment of money and time. Our women and minority attorneys are prominently involved and hold leadership positions in some of the most important minority civic and bar organizations in the country including:

• Asian Americans of Equality
• Asian Pacific American Legal Center
• Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association
• California Association of Black Lawyers
• California Black Chamber of Commerce
• California Women's Law Center
• Chilean Association of Attorneys
• D.C. Commission on Asian & Pacific Islander Affairs
• Hispanic National Bar Association
• Inner City Law Center
• International Human Rights Committee of the Association of the Bar of City of New York
• Korean American Bar Association
• Korean American Coalition
• L.A. Conservation Corps
• La Raza Galeria Posada
• Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
• Los Angeles Urban League
• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
• NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund Board
• Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association
• The Association of Women in International Trade
• Women Lawyers Association
• Women's Bar Association of District of Columbia
• Women's Forum of Washington D.C.