Perkins Coie, the law firm that has long been a top adviser to Democrats, is looking to expand its work for tech and emerging companies while pulling back from politics.
The firm’s partisan political work has “reduced over time,” managing partner Bill Malley said in an interview. “We continue to have some work in that area, but it is much less than in the past. It’s shifted and where we’ve really placed our focus on is advising corporate clients on compliance with election law and lobbying law.”
The Seattle-founded firm has deep roots in Big Tech, having helped take Amazon.com public in 1997 and counting Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc.'s Facebook among its clients. It has been best known recently for fighting off a slew of Republican lawsuits challenging President Joe Biden’s 2020 election and advising the Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton campaigns.
The firm’s work in the political sphere has plummeted in the current election cycle, after the departure of prominent elections lawyer Marc Elias and a group of attorneys.
The Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee paid Perkins Coie a combined $450,000 in fees for work through the first 10 months of this year. That’s down from the combined $22 million in fees that the firm raked from the organizations last year.
Perkins Coie is instead deepening its investment...
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