As businesses, trade associations, and others negotiate President Donald Trump’s second term in office and a Republican-controlled Congress, leading firms in Washington, D.C., are reporting an increase in lobbying expenditures.
According to the U.S. law firm Akin, lobbying income reached its highest level ever in the first quarter of 2025. It generated $16.4 million, up 18.75% from 2024’s first quarter. Ballard Partners had a successful first quarter as well. Politico Influence reports that the lobbying company earned $14 million, a 225% increase from the first quarter of 2024.
Pam Bondi, who formerly employed at the Tallahassee-based business before to being appointed U.S. attorney general, is one of Ballard’s ties to the Trump administration. Trump in 2016 was among the Republican candidates for whom Ballard’s president has been a leading Florida fundraiser. Disclosures reveal that during the first quarter, Ballard Partners received $100,000 from each of two prominent law firms, Kirkland & Ellis and Simpson Thacher, to lobby on issues pertaining to employment practices.
Nine well-known companies, including Kirkland and Simpson Thacher, canceled agreements with the White House in order to avoid being subject to an executive order that aimed to restrict corporate activities.
In January, Ballard was also appointed to represent the Harvard Corporation, the governing body of Harvard University. Since taking office, Trump has taken harsh measures against prominent American institutions, accusing them of failing to control pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year and allowing antisemitism to flourish on campus. This week, Harvard filed a lawsuit to stop the White House from suspending government funds totaling billions of dollars.
Another legal firm with a well-known lobbying practice, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, reported that its first-quarter business was fueled in part by customers in higher education. In the first quarter of 2025, the company recorded earnings of $16.8 million, a 3.5% rise over the same period the previous year. Disclosure reports indicate that the firm represents DePaul University and the University of Colorado.
For the quarter, two other companies, BGR Group and Cornerstone Government Affairs, also recorded year-over-year gains. Cornerstone reported $13.6 million in sales, while BGR Group claimed $14.6 million.
Another American legal firm that engages in lobbying, Holland & Knight, reported $13 million in lobbying income for the first quarter of 2025, a 5.4% rise over the same period in 2024.
The non-profit organization OpenSecrets, which gathers lobbying data, reports that since 2016, businesses, trade associations, and other organizations have consistently increased their lobbying expenditures. Companies spent over $4.43 billion lobbying government agencies and Congress in 2024.
