Patrick E. O’Donnell focuses on federal issues with an emphasis on the executive and legislative branches of government. He combines his legislative and government public policy practice with international and communications law to include tax, trade, foreign policy and national security.

Mr. O’Donnell’s career spans a variety of high-level governmental positions including six years in the Nixon and Ford administrations as special assistant to the President for legislative affairs and terms as deputy assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice and as legal counsel to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Upon leaving the White House, Mr. O’Donnell served as legislative counsel to General Electric Company and JC Penney Corporation. He served in the presidential campaigns of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, Howard Baker and George W. Bush. After participating in the 1980 Reagan campaign and transition, Mr. O’Donnell was appointed by President Reagan to the President’s Commission on Broadcasting to Cuba (Radio Marti). He then became a partner in a Washington DC and Minneapolis law firm and in 2001 accepted an offer to help a Washington DC-based law firm start its new public policy practice.

Mr. O’Donnell plays an ongoing role in campaigning for Republican Party federal candidates and is a member of the Senatorial Trust and the Majority Makers of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). He also serves as a member of the Speaker’s Business Leadership Trust of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).

Early in his career, Mr. O’Donnell served for six years as a civil, criminal and appellate litigation attorney in the District of Columbia and the federal court system on behalf of the Washington DC Attorney General’s office.

He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Board of Governors for the National Republican Club of Capitol Hill and is a former board member of the United Service Organizations (USO).

Representative Experience

• Working for the governments and private sector interests in Taiwan, India, the Netherlands Antilles, Ecuador, Columbia, El Salvador, Serbia and Ukraine.
• Developing extensive experience with the major legislative and appropriations committees of the US Congress including Ways and Means, International Affairs, Commerce, Banking, Financial Services, Armed Services and Energy/Environmental Affairs.
• Developing and maintaining widespread and current relationships with Congressional leadership and senior administration officials, ranging from the White House and Office of Management and Budget to the various executive branch cabinet departments and regulatory agencies.