Law firms bulk up their caseloads via governments

Bermuda is better known as a vacation retreat than a political hot spot. Yet the island nation is in the midst of a national debate over rewriting a nearly 90-year-old law that spells out who can vote in elections, what the government’s responsibilities are and what falls under the purview of the island’s two municipalities, Hamilton and St. George’s.

And Atlanta has a hand in settling all this.

Looking to reform and update its 1923 Municipalities Act, Bermuda hired Georgia law firm McKenna, Long & Aldridge to advise and make recommendations on potential governmental change.

“A lot of the rules that applied to them on governance and democracy are outdated,” said M. Hakim Hilliard, a partner in McKenna’s state and local governments affairs division and advisory team member.

“One of the issues with respect to democracy is that the way that they vote is determined by who owns or leases land,” he said, explaining that businesses, but not all citizens, have that right. “We’re going to be looking at the entire system of government.”

McKenna, which represented the Canadian government when General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection last year, is working with a local Bermudian firm. The government wants the advisory team’s recommendations by June.

The $800,000 Bermuda project is part of a push toward government and government-related cases for McKenna, Long & Aldridge following its 2002 merger.

“Since the time of the merger, one of the fastest-growing practice areas has been the government affairs practice,” said Eric Tanenblatt, who heads the 50-person group.

Not all of them are lawyers. Stephen Goldsmith, who heads McKenna’s Bermuda advisory team, was the Indianapolis mayor and led that city’s privatization efforts of some services. Former U.S. ambassador to Canada Gordon D. Giffin and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean also are on the firm’s government roster.

“We really see it as an opportunity where we can put that expertise to use,” Tanenblatt said.

Many of metro Atlanta’s larger firms are turning to government-related work as they experience a slowdown in other sectors. Firms attribute this to the federal bank bailout, health care reform initiatives and disbursement of funds from the $787 billion federal stimulus package.

“While the commercial services sector was shrinking, the public sector was expanding,” Tanenblatt said. “We have made a strategic decision that we want to focus on the intersection of business and government.”