Steve Roberts

As part of his practice, Steve advises clients on compliance strategies with federal, state and local lobbying laws, pay-to-play limitations, campaign finance restrictions and requirements, and gifts and entertainment limitations for government officials. In that role, he works with donors, corporations and trade associations on the Federal Election Campaign Act and the impacts of court and agency decisions altering campaign finance laws, the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) and the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA), the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), as well as state and local corollary laws.

Steve also assists corporate clients with establishing and forming corporate and trade association PACs and provides guidance on best practices for success with those committees. He routinely aids clients in responding to the Federal Election Commission on compliance, enforcement and advisory matters. Additionally, he has prepared Senate, House, executive agency, and candidate financial disclosures ranking among the largest ever filed in the history of the Ethics in Government Act.

Steve is considered is a subject matter expert on a host of issues that are highly pertinent to corporations engaged in grassroots advocacy and political engagement, including lobbying compliance and political engagement in an age of social media, tax-exempt organizations as advocacy tools, peer-to-peer texting as a way to energize existing and potential grassroots supporters, corporate political giving, and FARA compliance strategies. Additionally, he counsels political clients and tax exempt organizations looking to incorporate emerging technologies and artificial intelligence into voter outreach and grassroots lobbying campaigns. As a former registered lobbyist himself, he knows how to guide clients to strategies that are compliant and effective.

Additionally, Steve has designed and put into practice corporate compliance systems and policies for some of the world’s largest companies for federal, state and local lobbying tracking, as well as implemented institution-wide reporting systems for compliance with lobbying, campaign finance, and gifts laws.

In this moment at which the free speech rights of certain speakers—including organizations and their executives—are questioned by the public, the press, and even sometimes government officials, Steve finds opportunities for his clients to engage productively in political and lobbying activity.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Roberts spent several years at a global AmLaw 100 firm where he also practiced political law. Before law school, Mr. Roberts worked as a political consultant focusing on email fundraising and online advertising, and as a fundraiser at the Republican National Committee.