Van Ness Feldman

Founded in Washington, D.C. in 1977 by four former congressional and executive branch counsel, Van Ness Feldman has grown to include over 100 lawyers and policy professionals in their Washington, D.C., Seattle and San Francisco Bay offices.

Two of the firm's original founders, William J. "Bill" Van Ness Jr. and Howard Feldman worked under U.S. Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson.[3] Van Ness first served as special counsel and later (beginning in 1970) as chief counsel of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. During his tenure, he drafted several pieces of major environmental legislation, including the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Secretary of the Treasury and former Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew was a partner in the firm from 1988 to 1993.[4]

Former Department of Energy general counsel, Robert Nordhaus and former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission general counsel Doug Smith are partners in the firm. Nordhaus, previously served as legislative counsel in the House of Representatives and was the author of Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act.[5]

Former U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms James Ziglar is Senior Counsel at the firm.[6] Former Congressman Norm Dicks joined the firm in 2013 as Senior Policy Advisor.[7] In May 2015, former Senator Mary Landrieu joined the firm as a Senior Policy Advisor.[8]