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July 1, 2010, 4:41 PM
Top Lobby Firm Acquiring Ex-Senators’ Shop
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Two brand-name firms in the Washington lobbying sector are joining together in the hope of promoting an concept that’s been in short supply lately in the capital – bipartisanship.

Patton Boggs, already the biggest federal lobbying firm in the country, announced Thursday that it was acquiring Breaux-Lott Leadership Group, a much smaller niche shop well known because of the former senators who founded it — John Breaux, Democrat of Louisiana, and Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., a leading Washington lobbyist for a half century and the chairman of Patton Boggs, called the acquisition a “strategic coup and a cornerstone for our bipartisan growth.”

After leaving the Senate from different political parties, Mr. Breaux and Mr. Lott joined together in 2008 preaching a message of crossing the political aisle. Their firm’s Web site declares: “It is clear over the last several years that the only way to accomplish true results in Washington is through a bipartisan approach.”

Their firm has focused mostly on regulatory issues like nuclear power and energy, taxes and trade. The senators’ sons, John Breaux Jr. and Chester Trent Lott Jr., also work at the firm and will be joining their fathers, along with six other policy adviser and staff members, in making the move to Patton Boggs.

Mr. Breaux said that he and his associates would “continue to provide boutique-level personal attention” while working with the much larger network of policy, business and legal experts at Patton Boggs, which has 550 lawyers in nine offices worldwide. No name change for the firm is expected.


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
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