Lobbying World

By Staff Report - 10/02/12 07:50 PM ET

• Alan Elias has joined Mercury/Clark & Weinstock as a vice president. He last served Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) as the lead policy adviser on issues relating to foreign affairs, defense, trade, intelligence, veterans, the federal budget and transportation. He also worked for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and “helped conduct oversight of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, border security and federal contracting.”

• Dee Buchanan and Con Lass have been hired by Ogilvy Government Relations. Buchanan served most recently as the chief of staff for the House Republican Conference, while Lass worked as the senior director of federal relations at the American Petroleum Institute. Lass has also served on the staff of several members of Congress.

• Eric Edwards has joined Crowell & Moring’s office in Washington. He will “provide strategic counseling to firm clients on government affairs matters in the areas of banking, securities, financial institutions and general business.” He came from the Public Policy Group, where he served as a partner. He has also worked in several congressional offices, and most recently in an “in-house policy adviser position with a Fortune 100 company.”

• DLA Piper has announced four office and practice leadership appointments in the firm’s various offices: Heidi Levine will become the co-managing partner of the New York office, David Mendelsohn will become the co-managing partner of the Chicago office, Perrie Weiner is becoming the co-managing partner of both Los Angeles offices and Ann Ford has been named U.S. vice chairwoman of the intellectual property and technology practice.

• Annabelle Canning has been named a partner at Capitol Tax Partners and will focus her practice on advising clients who are “seeking federal legislative solutions to the expanding universe of state tax issues,” according to a statement from the firm. Before joining Capitol Tax Partners, Canning worked as a vice president of state tax policy at Verizon Communications. She has been working on preventing “unfair taxation of digital goods and services.”