(Reuters) - In unveiling a new practice focused on state attorneys general, Hogan Lovells is following a well-trod path: I can think of at least a dozen other firms that have made similar moves in the last few years.

The firm may be late on the scene, but it's launching its group with a marquee name: Karl Racine.

Hogan on Tuesday announced it added Racine, whose second term as attorney general for the District of Columbia ended Jan. 2, as a partner and head of the new AG practice.

State AGs “really are top-of-mind now to CEOs and boardrooms across the country,” Racine, 60, told me.

Whether collaborating with their federal counterparts or filling voids left by congressional or executive branch inaction, the consumer protection-oriented enforcers are “ascendant,” he said.

Big firms are taking notice, said Kent Zimmermann, a legal consultant at the Zeughauser Group.

“My experience is that the value of state AG practices is rising for many law firms,” Zimmermann said via email.

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Increasingly, state AG actions can impact defendants' corporate brand, reputation or financial performance, he continued. “When this is the case, clients are usually concerned more about results and less about rates," Zimmermann said, which makes the work enticingly lucrative.

Other firms that have recently launched or expanded state AG-focused practices include DLA Piper; Jones Day; O'Melveny & Myers; Crowell & Morning and Holland & Knight. In December, Akin, Gump, Strauss,...

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