Ryan Ray
The Miami-founded international law firm Greenberg Traurig made its presence felt in Tallahassee last quarter, to judge by its earnings: the firm took in some $1.3 million in lobbying fees according to recently filed compensation reports.
That figure broke down into some $1,039,000 from 108 legislative lobbying clients and $245,000 from 102 executive branch clients.
Among the highest-paying of Greenberg’s clients was Seminole Tribe of Florida was responsible for an estimated $90,000 in invoices between April 1 and June 30, as was Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Company which led the way among a bevy of insurance industry clients.
Humana Medical Plan held the single largest legislative contract on the firm’s Q2 balance sheet, spending $64,000 for representation before the Capitol’s legislative chambers and added between $20,000 – $29,999 for regulatory lobbying services.
Guy Carpenter & Company and Patriot National Insurance Group all easily made the “$50k plus” list, tendering an estimated $70,000 each for advocacy within Florida’s state government.
First Protective Insurance Company, Florida Hospital Association, and PAR North American also paid between $30,000 – $39,999 for legislative work, though they did not retain the firm for executive lobbying.
Insurance and financial services clients who paid at least $20,000 for Greenberg’s representation included Risk Management Solutions, GrowHealthy Holdings and Olympus Insurance Company.
Other notable clients during the second quarter of 2015 included AT&T, Ford Motor Company, LegalZoom.com, and Associated Industries of Florida.
Senior partner Fred Baggett was joined by a stable of seven other governmental relations consultants including Fred Karlinsky, Barry Richard, Gus Corbella, Leslie Dughi and Hayden Dempsey plus executive branch specialists Kerri Barsh and Richard Fidei.
State law requires lobbying firms to submit compensation reports quarterly. They are permitted in most cases to simply report an approximate range of client compensation — e.g. $1 – $9,999 – in lieu of the specific dollar amount.
