Trevor Potter

Trevor Potter is a member in Caplin & Drysdale's Washington, D.C. office, where he leads the firm's Political Law Practice. He is one of the country's best-known and most experienced campaign and election lawyers, and a former Commissioner and Chairman of the Federal Election Commission. He has been described by the American Bar Association Journal as "hands-down one of the top lawyers in the country on the delicate intersection of politics, law and money."

Services

Mr. Potter is a leading authority on lobbying regulation, government ethics and campaign finance issues. He is nationally recognized for his experience in compliance programs, campaign finance investigations, and questions concerning lobbying registration and disclosure and federal and state ethics rules.

Highlights

Mr. Potter served as General Counsel to John McCain 2008 and 2000 presidential campaigns. He also served as Deputy General Counsel to the George H.W. Bush 1988 campaign. He is the founding President and General Counsel of the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit which focuses on campaign finance issues in the courts and before the FEC. Mr. Potter serves as Counsel to Stephen Colbert's 501(c)(4) and advises him on campaign finance issues on the Colbert Report,  and was the lawyer for the Colbert SuperPac "Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow" in the 2012 election cycle.

Professional Activities

• Non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution
• Frequent guest speaker at a variety of professional meetings and has taught campaign finance law at the University of Virginia School of Law and Oxford University
• Testified before Congress on federal election proposals and campaign finance regulation and has served as an expert witness on election law issues in court
• Co Chair of the ABA Task Force on Lobbying Regulation
• Co-Chair of the Election Law Committee of the American Bar Association's Administrative Law Section, and Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Standing Committee on Election Law of the ABA

Awards & Honors

• Chambers USA®, 2009-2013
• AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell®
• Super Lawyers®, 2008-2009, 2013 
• Best Lawyers in America®, 2011-2013
• Listed in Washingtonian Magazine's Top Lawyers for 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2012

Recent Media

• Trevor Potter on Fighting Big Money in the 2012 Election, Moyers & Company (September 21, 2012)
• The New Price of American Politics, The Atlantic (September 20, 2012)
• Former FEC Chairman Potter Decries Campaign Finance System, LakeForester (June 26, 2012)
• More Shareholders Call On Companies to Disclose Their Political Spending, The Washington Post (May 21, 2012)
• Op-Ed by Trevor Potter: Five Myths About Super PACs, Challenging Everything You Think You Know, The Washington Post (April 13, 2012)
• Colbert Super PAC-501c4 Disclosure, Colbert Nation (April 3, 2012)
• Payday Lender Political Donors Hidden in Corporate Names, Bloomberg News (March 21, 2012)
• 2012 Political TV: Ads, Lies and Videotape, NPR (February 24, 2012)
• Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (January 17, 2012)
• Colbert Super PAC Coordination Resolution With Jon Stewart, Colbert Nation (January 12, 2012)
• Super PACs Buy Time to Keep Secrets, The Associated Press (January 7, 2012)
• How Many Stephen Colberts Are There?, The New York Times (January 4, 2012)

For a comprehensive list of Mr. Potter's mentions in the media, please click here.

Recent Publications

• Co-authored with Bryson B. Morgan, The History of Undisclosed Spending in U.S. Elections & How 2012 Became the "Dark Money" Election, 27 Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy 384 (June 2013)
• Campaign Finance: Remedies Beyond the Court, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas (Issue #27, Winter 2013)
• Federal Campaign Finance Law: a Primer, The Lobbying Manual, ABA (Fourth Edition, 2011)
• Political Activity, Lobbying Laws and Gift Rules Guide, West Publishing (Third Edition 2008, Second Edition 1999)
• The New Campaign Finance Sourcebook, Brookings Institution (2005)
• Federal Election Law and the Internet, Brookings Institution (2000)