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Scope of Practice
Vinson & Elkins has a long history of involvement in the state political and legislative arenas, which has been enhanced recently by adding three new partners with experience in the public policy area, John Howard, Ron Kirk, and Bill Jones, who joined Joe Bill Watkins and Elizabeth Rogers as our core group of legislative partners. The Firm has solidified its existing policy practitioners into a robust Public Policy Group to coordinate the activities of twenty-two lawyers working with state and federal governmental entities. Our arrangement with the Texas Lobby Group, which includes some of the top lobbyists in Texas, including Mike Toomey, Bill Messer and Walter Fisher, has enhanced our ability to meet our clients' multi-faceted needs.
Our Public Policy Group coordinates closely with lawyers in other substantive practice areas of the firm to provide integrated approaches to issues that reflect not only significant lobbying experience at the State and Federal levels, but also a sophisticated understanding of the legal issues and options for addressing client concerns, whether those involve seeking new legislation, opposing harmful legislation, seeking changes to agency rules or pursuing agency or court proceedings.
Examples of areas in which the Firm has represented clients include:
- telecommunications
- school finance
- securities
- public school textbooks
- healthcare
- transportation
- professional sports facilities
- water rights and environmental law
- taxation
- electric utilities/oil and gas
- alcoholic beverage regulation
- public information compliance
Counseling and Advocacy
The Public Policy Group has handled a wide range of matters, including the following:
- Represented a national textbook publishing association during the rewrite of the Texas Education Code, which included a comprehensive revision of the state's selection and purchase of public school textbooks
- Represented certain major telecommunications companies in the negotiation and final passage of the State Telecommunications Act, a precursor to federal legislation passed by Congress
- As part of a coalition of health care association and HMO lobbyists, represented clients in connection with the passage of bills that brought managed care to the state's Medicaid system
- Represented a major railroad that opposed the anti-competitive consolidation of two railroads
- Assisted clients seeking additional Medicare reimbursement through legislative and regulatory initiatives
- Represented a consortium of health care entities in connection with state-wide privacy legislation and subsequent rulemaking initiatives at the Texas Department of Insurance
- Represented a manufacturer of generic drugs before the legislature and the Texas State Board of Pharmacy in connection with issues regarding the safety and effectiveness of a generic drug compared to a brand drug. Continued representation of the client on the issue of drug costs before the Texas Legislature's interim committees.
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