Legal Groups Lobbying Fiercely

WASHINGTON - Legal groups have been in the thick of legislative fights to overhaul the financial regulatory system and change liability laws in the wake of the oil spill, though their lobbying spending varies widely.

Disclosure reports filed this week show the U.S. Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform spent $3.75 million and the trial lawyers' group, the American Association for Justice, spent $1 million, lobbying on dozens of proposals in the second quarter of the year. They weren't the only ones pressing lawmakers. The American Civil Liberties Union, for instance, reported spending $339,340 lobbying on issues that ranged from the Fair Sentencing act to immigration detention. And the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, which registered to lobby in April, reported spending $7,241 lobbying on issues such as school integration, financial regulatory reform and judicial nominations.

The third quarter promises to be busy, too. Linda Lipsen, the chief executive officer and lead lobbyist for AAJ, said the group is now focused on legislation related to the oil spill. "I think that right now, our attention is on what's going on in the Gulf Coast, and making sure that victims of the disaster emanating from the oil spill are fully compensated," she said.

Matthew Webb, senior vice president for legal reform policy at the Institute for Legal Reform, which is opposing the trial lawyers' push for the liability changes in the wake of the spill, said the proposed shifts are a "big deal." "They are wholesale rewrites to admiralty law at this point," he said, adding that "it's a very well-settled area of the law" and changes warrant more debate.

The two groups have also recently traded words over a tax change pushed by AAJ that would benefit trial lawyers. In a sign that the issue is still a hot topic, two high-ranking Repubicans weighed in on Friday. Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Sen. Chuck Grass ...