Bottom Line

• CRIMINAL JUSTICE. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, an arm of the corporate lobby, is jumping into the criminal justice reform battle. It hired Lungren Lopina, a boutique firm co-created by former Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.), to tackle the policy issue — which has gained a measure of bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. Disclosure forms, however, do not list specific elements of criminal justice reform the firm will be engaged in.

• PATENT REFORM. Hance Scarborough is PhRMA’s newest hire in the group’s effort to reform the nation’s patent law system. The pharmaceutical industry is trying to maintain robust intellectual property protections, and its leading trade group now has more than a dozen law and lobby firms working on its behalf on the issue. 

• MEDIA. News Corporation, the massive media conglomerate that owns Fox News, recently registered with two firms — Covington & Burling and Palladian Hill Strategies. Lobbying disclosure forms say advocates will be working on policy issues regarding “content regulation; combating online infringement and online piracy; advertising; copyright and patent reform.” The more recent hire — Palladian Hill Strategies — will include work from Martina Bradford, who served as a senior adviser to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and as the Senate deputy sergeant-at-arms. 

• REGULATIONS. The National Industrial Sand Association is planning to fight back against a rule proposal from the Occupational Heath and Safety Administration that aims to protect workers from silica dust, which can damage workers’ lungs. The trade group hired Conrad Law & Policy Counsel to lobby the federal government while it prepares to finalize a rule in the works for well more than a decade.