Squire Patton Boggs

Part of the Powerbase Brexit Portal.

Squire Patton Boggs (SPB) is an international law and lobbying firm with 46 offices in 21 countries.

It was formed in 2014 by the merger of multinational law firm Squire Sanders with Washington, D.C. based Patton Boggs.

Lobbying services

According to official US records, SPB earned $19m in 2016 from lobbying services in the US ($25m in 2015; $32m in 2014).

Brexit services

SPB has a dedicated Brexit service and website: www.brexitlegal.com.

It says: 'Since the UK’s decision to leave the European Union in June 2016 we have been providing our clients with support including undertaking careful analysis of the potential impact Brexit will have on them and the industries in which they operate.'

Areas of law it says it can help with include 'international trade, regulated industries (e.g. financial services), tax and competition'.

Brexit team: political connections

SPB says its team to help steer clients through Brexit uncertainty includes:

'sitting members of the UK Parliament, former United States Trade Representative and WTO officials, Members of the European Parliament and senior regulators, as well as European Free Trade Association (EFTA) officials, ex-ambassadors and national government ministers.

It isn't clear which UK Parliamentarians it currently employs.

It employed Conservative MP Jake Berry until he was appointed Northern Powerhouse Minister (for the Department of Communities and Local Government) in June 2017. Berry also accepted a donation of £10,000 in December 2015 from the firm for the sponsorship of a private party for MPs, which Berry co-hosted with three other MPs. In June 2015, Berry – then PPS to Greg Hands, spoke at a SPB panel discussion on ‘Conservative Party Manifesto Pledges – What Will the Impact be for the UK Real Estate Market’.

In October 2017 SPB's Jeremy Cape tweeted that he was very pleased to have another Northern Powerhouse minister (and ex-International Development minister) James Wharton join the SPB team. Wharton lost his seat in Parliament in the 2017 general election. On 23 October 2017, an article on Brexit by Wharton was posted on SPB's blog. Wharton describes himself as a consultant to Squire Patton Boggs from October 2017.

Former DfID minister, James Wharton joins the team

In July 2016 SPB hosted a British Chamber of Commerce event featuring Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe, then minister for Energy and Intellectual Property. The event was pitched as an opportunity to meet Neville-Rolfe and hear her thoughts on 'Brexit implications for trade and investment'.

Brexit team

Listed contacts for SPB's Brexit team:

• Peter Crossley in London
• Aline Doussin in London
• Wolfgang A. Maschek in Brussels
• Jens Rinze in Frankfurt
• Jeremy Cape in London; a member of the legal panel of the Red Tape Initiative

Clients

US lobbying clients

Lobbying clients in the US in 2017 include: (see Open Secrets for a full list of clients).
AECOM Global | Amazon | Airbus | Nissan North America | Mars | Coca Cola | UnitedHealth Group | Cerner | Shell | Sanderson Farms (US 3rd largest poultry producer) | Syngenta | Policy & Taxation Group | BAE Systems

EU lobbying clients

Lobbying clients in Brussels in 2017 include: (see Squire Patton Boggs entry on the EU transparency register for EU clients).
KazMunayGas International | Advantage Capital Partners | E-Pure/ The European Renewable Ethanol Association | Children’s Tumor Foundation | Synthos Group (manufacturers of chemical raw materials in Poland).

UK clients

SPB says that it represents in the UK 'a number of household names including those within the retail, hospitality, manufacturing and architecture sectors'.

It is not registered on the government's statutory register of consultant lobbyists.

Contact

Website: www.squirepattonboggs.com; www.brexitlegal.com

London address: 7 Devonshire Square, London, London, EC2M 4YH