We hadn’t had a chance to spotlight a page-one story in Friday’s WSJ on the trend of hedge funds hiring lobbyists, not to influence Congress but to help them predict what Congress is going to do. The issue the SEC is trying to resolve, says the WSJ: whether the passing of market-sensitive information by lobbyists to investors could violate insider-trading law.
Lobbying firms are building “political-intelligence” units and charging hedge funds between $5,000 and $20,000 a month for tips and predictions related to market-moving legislation such as gambling or asbestos reform. What the story didn’t report, but what we here at the Law Blog feel compelled to point out: Most of these lobbying firms are law firms, or, alternatively, “strategy” firms that are wholly-owned subsidiaries of law firms.
Among the firms highlighted in the story: Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, whose chairman-elect Elliott Portnoy founded the firm’s D.C.-based 18-lawyer “intelligence” practice advising investors on legislative matters. The WSJ says he was elected partly based on his unit’s performance. “There are a lot of savvy investors who have realized that there is a lot of money to be made from what Congress does,” said Portnoy.
Details here from the WSJ Law Blog.
We hadn’t had a chance to spotlight a page-one story in Friday’s WSJ on the trend of hedge funds hiring lobbyists, not to influence Congress but to help them predict what Congress is going to do. The issue the SEC is trying to resolve, says the WSJ: whether the passing of market-sensitive information by lobbyists to investors could violate insider-trading law.
Lobbying firms are building “political-intelligence” units and charging hedge funds between $5,000 and $20,000 a month for tips and predictions related to market-moving legislation such as gambling or asbestos reform. What the story didn’t report, but what we here at the Law Blog feel compelled to point out: Most of these lobbying firms are law firms, or, alternatively, “strategy” firms that are wholly-owned subsidiaries of law firms.
Among the firms highlighted in the story: Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, whose chairman-elect Elliott Portnoy founded the firm’s D.C.-based 18-lawyer “intelligence” practice advising investors on legislative matters. The WSJ says he was elected partly based on his unit’s performance. “There are a lot of savvy investors who have realized that there is a lot of money to be made from what Congress does,” said Portnoy.
Details here from the WSJ Law Blog.
We hadn’t had a chance to spotlight a page-one story in Friday’s WSJ on the trend of hedge funds hiring lobbyists, not to influence Congress but to help them predict what Congress is going to do. The issue the SEC is trying to resolve, says the WSJ: whether the passing of market-sensitive information by lobbyists to investors could violate insider-trading law.
Lobbying firms are building “political-intelligence” units and charging hedge funds between $5,000 and $20,000 a month for tips and predictions related to market-moving legislation such as gambling or asbestos reform. What the story didn’t report, but what we here at the Law Blog feel compelled to point out: Most of these lobbying firms are law firms, or, alternatively, “strategy” firms that are wholly-owned subsidiaries of law firms.
Among the firms highlighted in the story: Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, whose chairman-elect Elliott Portnoy founded the firm’s D.C.-based 18-lawyer “intelligence” practice advising investors on legislative matters. The WSJ says he was elected partly based on his unit’s performance. “There are a lot of savvy investors who have realized that there is a lot of money to be made from what Congress does,” said Portnoy.
Details here from the WSJ Law Blog.
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