US law firm sets up specialist postal unit in Washington
US law firm Ford & Huff has opened a new regulatory practice in Washington D.C. that will have a specialism in postal affairs. Former US Postal Service general counsel Hal Hughes, a senior attorney at the firm, is developing the new practice area for the company, which already has offices in New York, Phoenix and Salt Lake City.
Hughes will be joined at the new office on Connecticut Avenue by postal policy expert Bob Brinkmann and Art Sackler, who also runs the postal industry lobby group Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service.
The three members of the Washington office gives Ford and Huff “the deepest postal bench of any firm in the country”, the company claimed.
Sackler said: “Bob and I are very pleased to be associating with Ford & Huff, and with Hal.
“The Postal Service, despite its recent concerns, remains a huge and indispensable institution, on which a $1 trillion industry depends. We are looking forward to jointly helping members of that industry navigate legal and public policy challenges at the Postal Service, the Postal Regulatory Commission and on Capitol Hill.”
Brinkmann said the new unit would enlarge the capabilities of Ford & Huff, which would work with mailing companies on areas of regulation like USPS Negotiated Service Agreements – one of which was the subject of a major industry challenge this summer at the Postal Regulatory Commission.
Brinkmann said the unit would also help industry segments with broad public policy questions, with “decades” of combined expertise at hand to help companies affected by developments in postal legislation and red tape.
“I’m delighted to be working again with Bob and Art, and reengaging at the Postal Service and in Washington generally in the much broader way our collective backgrounds enable,” he said.
