National Law Journal Quotes Casey Higgins on Impact of Johnson as House Speaker

For its article “Big Law Policy Practices Prepare for Busy End of Year,” The National Law Journal quoted Akin lobbying & public policy senior counsel Casey Higgins. The article notes that Akin reported its largest quarter on record for lobbying revenue in the last quarter and discusses law firms’ lobbying activities as Congress attempts to get business done after a long contest for Speaker of the House.

Casey, who previously served as Assistant to the Speaker for Policy and Trade Counsel for former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), said that new Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), is a relatively unknown member to many people except for those who had worked on issues before committees on which he sits, such as the Judiciary Committee.

She said that having him as Speaker will not necessarily change dynamics drastically, given that work proceeds on legislation that has been in the pipeline for months: “The conference hasn’t changed, right? There’s a new head of the conference. There’s a new Speaker of the House, but the conference remains the same. From the lobbying perspective, it doesn’t change drastically at the end of the day.”

On the topic of a potential continuing resolution, she said, “The work continues until you reach the point where something is actually going to move. Everybody’s eyeing a moving vehicle, and there’s several of them out there in the coming future. So it’s all eyes on when those vehicles will actually move.”