Law360 Quotes Hunter Bates on Impact of First Year of Trump Administration

G. Hunter Bates, co-head of the public law and policy practice at Akin Gump, has been quoted in the Law360 story “One Year Later: Has Trump Been Good For BigLaw?” The article reports that it’s been a busy year for many lawyers, even if it has only been to help clients with the large amount of uncertainty that exists.

“I would liken it to a football game where there is a lot of hard-fought battles even when there’s not points on the board,” said Bates, who served as chief of staff to the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell. “The fact that a lot of initiatives have yet to get across the goal line doesn’t change the fact that it’s been very frenetic from one 20-yard line to the other 20-yard line.”

Vacant positions at many executive branch posts, the article says, could make it difficult for the Trump administration to push forward with its deregulatory agenda, and further delays in filling those slots could prove to be a small hindrance.

“If expectations diminish for what can get accomplished, it will have some effect on the market, at least around the edges,” noted Bates. “But sophisticated companies and trade associations in Washington know that you can’t turn on and off lobbying like a light switch. They know that you need a sustained presence on both sides of the aisle, regardless of whether the legislative market is a bull market or a bear market.”