Government and Regulatory Affairs

The government and regulatory affairs lawyers at McElroy Deutsch advise businesses, unions, political party committees, political action committees, candidates, individual donors and voters about the rights, freedoms and limits of the electoral and political processes, as well as campaign finance and lobbying laws.

Our attorneys advise clients on the statutory authority governing:

• The electoral process in Federal elections and New Jersey legislative and partisan and non-partisan municipal elections
• Campaign finance laws under federal law such as the Election Campaign Act of 1971, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (the McCain–Feingold Act), the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act, and the Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account Act, and corresponding federal regulatory authority under the Code of Federal Regulations
• New Jersey’s state campaign finance laws New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission’s regulations
• lobbying and ethical reporting disclosures and laws pursuant to the Legislative and Governmental Process Activities Disclosure Act, N.J.S.A. § 52:13C-18 et seq. and its regulatory counterpart under N.J.A.C. § 19:25-20.1
• Compliance with New Jersey state and local “pay to play” laws restricting political contributions by government contractors in accordance with Executive Orders and New Jersey statutory authority under N.J.S.A. § 19:44A

Additionally, our government and regulatory affairs lawyers worked to implement the New Jersey portion of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, that established a program to provide funds to states to replace punch card voting systems, to establish minimum election administration standards for states and units of local government with responsibility for the administration of Federal elections.

Our attorneys have also represented clients in New Jersey Legislative and Municipal Redistricting matters following Federal decennial censuses.  McElroy Deutsch represented the eleventh member of the constitutionally created ten-member Legislative Apportionment Commission to review and endorse, on behalf of the deadlocked ten-member Commission, a legislative redistricting plan following the 2000 federal census. Our law firm is also retained to provide similar representation and guidance to various municipal apportionment commissions.

Our government and regulatory affairs lawyers have also successfully represented local candidates at trial seeking positions on primary ballots for municipal council seats following clerks’ disqualifications of petitions; represented candidates for New Jersey State Senate and General Assembly in cases to require County Clerks to re-draw ballot positions; successfully represented local candidates in statutory recount and contest proceedings following certification of election results and has represented defendants charged with voter fraud.