The lawyers in Dow Lohnes’s Communications Group represent virtually all segments of the communications and media industries regulated by the Federal Communications Commission and other federal and state government agencies. With two-dozen attorneys specifically focused on regulatory and policy issues, along with numerous other attorneys representing communications, media and technology companies on transactional, content, litigation, tax and many other matters, Dow Lohnes has one of the largest and most diverse communications law practices in the United States. It also has the oldest such practice: Dow Lohnes was founded several years before Congress first regulated the emerging radio service with the Federal Radio Commission (the precursor to the FCC), and one of its founding partners was a principal architect of the original Communications Act of 1934.
Over the ensuing eight decades, Dow Lohnes’s communications practice has grown and evolved along with its clients. As a result, Dow Lohnes has extensive institutional experience in counseling communications, media and technology companies in the ever-changing economic and regulatory environments in which those industries operate. Our clients have been and remain pioneers in developing and deploying new technologies and services, and we have been privileged to have helped blaze the trail.
Today, the firm’s client base cuts across many media, communications and technology industries, including commercial and noncommercial television and radio broadcasters, newspaper publishers, cable television operators, wireline and wireless broadband providers, online and other new media companies, and manufacturers of radio frequency equipment and other interactive technologies. The communications lawyers of Dow Lohnes also represent investment and commercial banks, venture capitalists, private equity firms, and other members of the financial community in analyzing the communications industry and identifying new opportunities. The firm’s communications lawyers assist companies in devising regulatory strategies as well as handling federal licensing matters; policy advocacy; regulatory compliance, complaints, and enforcement investigations; and FCC-related administrative litigation and court appeals. They actively participate in FCC and state and local regulatory proceedings, in the development of federal and state legislation and policy, and in federal and state court actions. They also advise clients on regulatory and legislative developments that affect their businesses or that open new business opportunities. In addition, Dow Lohnes’s experience with virtually every significant business regulated by the FCC, and with the full range of transactions involving such businesses, affords its lawyers particular advantages in dealing with ownership and other regulatory issues arising from financing, mergers and other combinations of media and telecommunications properties. The firm’s communication regulatory lawyers have a combined 400 years of experience, and even its five non-lawyer professionals have a combined 80 years of experience in FCC regulatory matters.
In short, the firm’s representation of leading media and communications companies since the FCC’s inception affords its legal professionals with unparalleled qualifications to partner with the business and legal executives who operate and compete in, as well as those who invest in and finance, those industries. Through these experiences and relationships, Dow Lohnes communications lawyers provide clients with efficient and effective advice on day-to-day matters as well as their most important strategic business decisions and transactions.