Drew Wilson
According to recently filed compensation reports, the Tallahassee lobbying practice of Florida law firm GrayRobinson took in an estimated $7.2 million last year.
The firm’s ledger showed a fairly even split between legislative and executive branch lobbying, raking in $3.9 million from the former and $3.3 million from the latter.
GrayRobinson’s two-dozen lobbyists, led by former House Speaker Dean Cannon, consistently makes the top-10 list when it comes to quarterly incomes and is one of a half-dozen or so firms that routinely breaks the $1 million mark in its legislative lobbying reports.
Last quarter was no different.
According to LobbyTools’ number crunching, the firm tallied another $955,000 repping its 150-plus clients in the state House and Senate, earning it the No. 6 spot in the Q4 rankings.
Those numbers are on the low end, however, as the bottom line of the firm’s legislative report confirms it cracked seven figures for the October through December reporting period.
Lobbying firms report their earnings in $10,000 ranges for each client, except for those that pay more than $50,000 a quarter. Florida Politics uses the median number in each range to estimate lobbying compensation.
Tossing out the medians and looking at the max, GrayRobinson could have cracked $12 million in 2018.
Numerous principals paid at least $100,000 in fees across all four quarters, with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts arguably the best known brand among them. The House of Mouse paid the firm an estimated $120,000 between its legislative and executive contracts.
Others noteworthy clients paying $100K-plus include PepsiCo, the University of Central Florida and the Florida Municipal Electric Association.
AvMed looks to be GrayRobinson’s most lucrative client overall, with $90,000 collected for legislative work and another $80,000 banked plying the Governor and Cabinet.
Further down the reports are a score or more municipal clients, including the city governments of Fort Myers, Lakeland, Key West, Orlando and West Palm Beach. Most of contracts measured in at $40,000 for the year when the legislative and executive numbers are combined.
