Plain answers to fair questions
What does a federal lobbying firm do?
A federal lobbying firm represents clients before Congress and federal agencies: developing legislative strategy, drafting and analyzing bill text, arranging and conducting meetings with members and staff, preparing testimony and funding requests, and monitoring the committees and dockets that affect the client’s interests.
How much does a federal lobbyist cost?
At Apollo Counsel, retainers typically run several thousand dollars a month, scoped to the pace of the issue. Engagements are scoped either as a defined project — an appropriations request, a single hearing cycle — or as a monthly retainer, depending on what the work actually needs. These forms best align the firm with the interests of the client while complying with applicable ethical, legal, and compliance guidelines. Rates across Washington vary widely, and you can check them yourself: every registrant reports the income received from each client on its quarterly LD-2, and those filings are public. Government affairs is relationship work — progress compounds as policymakers and their staff come to know a client and trust its information — so a retainer usually reflects the ongoing nature of the practice better than a fixed project does. Every engagement begins with a candid conversation about whether the work justifies the cost; if it doesn’t, you’ll hear that directly.
Can a small company afford a lobbying firm?
Often, yes — the cost of federal representation scales with the scope of the work, not with the size of the company. One well-defined objective — a single appropriations request, one rulemaking comment, one committee relationship built before you need it — is a far smaller engagement than a standing presence across a dozen issues, and it is the engagement most first-time clients actually need. A boutique is where that work fits: no team to staff, no minimum to hit, and the person you meet is the person who does the work. If the honest answer is that the issue does not justify the cost, or that an hour of guidance would get you further than a retainer, you will hear that on the first call.
Why hire a solo practice instead of a large firm?
Often it is not instead. Larger clients typically run a bench — a large firm for breadth, one or two specialists for particular issues, and a small practice for the relationships it actually owns — and this firm is hired as part of that. Where it is the only representation, the argument is about where the hours go. At a large firm a senior lobbyist’s week is divided among a long client roster, internal management and the firm’s own processes. A one-person practice with a deliberately limited client list spends that time on the Hill instead, and is available when a client needs an answer rather than when the calendar allows. What a large firm brings that a small one cannot is headcount and breadth: if a matter needs twelve people in twelve offices next week, that is the right call, and the firm will say so.
Do you lobby state governments?
No — Apollo Counsel works exclusively at the federal level, before Congress and the federal agencies. If your issue sits in a statehouse, a governor’s office or a state regulatory agency, you want a firm registered in that state: the registration regimes, session calendars and relationships are genuinely different. Multistate government affairs firms and state-focused boutiques do that work, and each state’s ethics commission publishes its registration rules and registrant list. When an issue runs in both places at once — a federal preemption question, a Medicaid waiver, a state implementing a federal program — the firm handles the federal half and coordinates with the state-side team.
Do you work with Republicans?
Yes — on the Hill nothing gets done otherwise. The firm’s deepest relationships are with Democratic members and staff in the House and Senate, built over two decades of working for them, and it says so plainly rather than claiming a bipartisan roster it does not have. But legislative outcomes require both parties: bills move out of committees both parties sit on, an appropriations request needs a Republican signature as often as a Democratic one, and an oversight letter from a majority chairman is answered to that chairman. The firm works Republican offices on the merits — the issue, the facts, and staff-level relationships built over years in the building.
Where a matter needs dedicated Republican-side advocacy, the firm says so, and can bring it: the principal keeps working relationships with Republican solo practitioners and small shops who do exactly that work. Larger clients often run a bench regardless — a large firm for breadth, a specialist or two for particular issues, and this firm for its own part of it. A client who cannot carry two retainers should not be shut out of either side of the Hill, and is not.
Does my company need to register under the Lobbying Disclosure Act?
Possibly — registration depends on how much lobbying activity occurs and who performs it. When Apollo Counsel lobbies on a client’s behalf, the firm files the required registrations and quarterly disclosures for that engagement. Whether your company has separate obligations for in-house activity is a question worth a short conversation.
Do you disclose your clients?
Yes — to the extent federal law requires, and not beyond it. Apollo Counsel is the trade name of Apollo Government Relations, LLC, a registrant under the Lobbying Disclosure Act. For each client the firm lobbies for, it files a registration identifying that client and quarterly LD-2 reports listing the general issue areas worked and the chambers and agencies contacted. Those filings are public and anyone can search them, under Apollo Government Relations, LLC, at the Senate LDA registrant search and the House Clerk disclosure site.
What the firm does not do is publish client names, matters, or case studies in its own marketing. If you want to hear from someone the firm has worked for, ask — reference calls with past or current clients are available on request.
What’s the difference between a lobbying firm and a law firm?
A law firm provides legal advice and representation; a lobbying firm advocates before Congress and agencies. Apollo Counsel is a government relations firm — founded and run by a lawyer by training, informed by that discipline, but it is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. When a matter requires counsel of record, the firm works alongside your lawyers.
What is the difference between a lobbyist and a government relations consultant?
Mostly the title — the legal line is registration, not vocabulary. Under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, a person who makes more than one lobbying contact for a client and spends at least 20 percent of their time for that client on lobbying activities must register; a person who advises on strategy without making those contacts generally does not. “Government relations consultant,” “public affairs advisor” and “policy advisor” are unregulated descriptions — some of the people using them are registered lobbyists, and others are deliberately staying under the threshold. What matters when you are hiring is which one you are getting: ask whether they will be making the contacts themselves, and whether they will be filing. Apollo Counsel registers and files for the clients it lobbies for.
How quickly can you start?
Quickly. A boutique firm has no intake committee. If the fit is right and conflicts are clear, work can begin the week the engagement letter is signed.
Is there a minimum commitment?
There is no fixed minimum contract length; the engagement can be flexibly scoped to the client’s needs. While there is sometimes a limited timeline envisioned, Congress typically works on its own schedule, and it sometimes becomes necessary to build and maintain relationships with policymakers over a more uncertain length of time.
What happens on the first call?
A short call, no charge, and no pitch deck. You describe the problem — the bill, the letter, the rule, the funding line — and the questions back are practical: who has jurisdiction, what the calendar looks like, who else is working the issue, and what a realistic outcome is in this Congress. By the end you should have a plain read on whether there is a federal path, roughly what it would take, and whether this is the right firm for it. If the right answer is a bigger firm, a state-level firm or no firm at all, you will hear that. If it makes sense to continue, the next step is a short scope-and-fee proposal and a conflicts check — nothing is signed on the call.