Bill Bright advises clients on a wide range of public policy matters, bringing an insider’s understanding of the legislative process to provide strategic direction to his clients’ legislative priorities and bring those priorities to the forefront of current policy debates in Washington.

Mr. Bright represents a variety of clients, including trade associations, corporations, municipalities and non-profit organizations. In that capacity, Mr. Bright has engaged in a wide range of activities including Congressional outreach, corporate responsibility, intellectual property, federal funding, immigration and global trade issues. Other issues of note he has worked on while at the firm include Internet privacy, digital music issues, advertising and marketing rights and movie rating issues.

His pro bono work has focused on the arts through his representation of the DC-based non-profit, Festivals DC, which sponsors the largest annual music festival in Washington, DC – the DC Jazz Festival. Mr. Bright was Director of Patton Boggs’ Public Policy Services Department from July 2005 through April 2008, and has been a member of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee since February 2008.

Prior to joining Patton Boggs, Mr. Bright served as the Research Director to the Senate Judiciary Committee, under current Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), where he was instrumental in the development of policy positions and initiatives pursued by the Committee. As Research Director, Mr. Bright was responsible for advising the Committee staff and Members on a variety of issues including the appropriations process, intellectual property issues, entertainment and telecommunications, immigration and crime control policy.

During his tenure on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Bright also worked closely with Committee staff to develop major legislative priorities that became law, including the 1994 Crime Bill and the 1996 Immigration bill. He also researched and drafted materials that served as the base briefing documents used by the Senate Democratic Caucus in preparation for the Senate impeachment trail of then-President Bill Clinton in 1999.

Representative Matters

• Working closely with chocolate industry leaders to implement protocol to combat child labor in product production, as well as coordinated outreach to key African-American Members of Congress and related community groups in support of their legislative priorities. 
• Working on behalf of an entertainment trade association to successfully defeat onerous provisions regarding movie ratings enforcement in the juvenile justice legislation pending before Congress in 1999. 
• Representing local governments and non-profits in support of federal funding initiatives and efforts to better engage with their representatives in Congress.