Lobbying World

By The Hill Staff - 04/06/10 06:55 PM ET

• Anne Urban and Sandra Swirski have formed a new lobbying firm, Urban Swirski & Associates. Both were partners at Venn Strategies. Swirski has worked as tax counsel for two past Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee, former Sens. Al Simpson (Wyo.) and Jack Danforth (Mo.). Urban was a legislative director and tax adviser to ex-Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) and has also worked for Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).

• Venn Strategies has restructured its senior management team and hired Rebecca Dreilinger, former press secretary for Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), as assistant vice president. Under the new management structure, Stephanie Silverman will serve as chief executive officer; Penny Lee will be president; and Brian Reardon will be the new chief operating officer.

• David W. Ogden has returned to WilmerHale as co-chairman of the government and regulatory litigation Group. Ogden was the deputy attorney general at the Justice Department for the Obama administration. Prior to that, he led the administration’s transition team for the department. Before joining WilmerHale in 2001, he was a senior aide in the Clinton administration’s Justice Department, serving as chief of staff and counselor to then-Attorney General Janet Reno, among other positions.

• Lisa Rickard, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and president of its Institute for Legal Reform, will lead the trade group’s Workforce Freedom Initiative. The Chamber’s chief legal officer and general counsel, Steven Law, is leaving to become president and CEO of American Crossroads, a new 527 political group. Glenn Spencer will remain as the initiative’s executive director.

• Elizabeth Hyman has joined CompTIA as its new vice president for public advocacy. Hyman was overseeing government affairs for computer manufacturer Lenovo before joining the trade group. She has also worked for the Consumer Electronics Association. Hyman was a senior aide in the Clinton administration’s Justice Department and an associate counsel to Vice President Al Gore.

• Arthur B. Axelson has joined Dykema, where he will lead the firm’s financial services practice group in its Washington office. Axelson previously was a partner at Reed Smith.

• James DeLong will be a visiting fellow at Digital Society, covering intellectual property and policy issues at its website. DeLong has headed the Progress and Freedom Foundation’s Center for the Study of Digital Property and ran its IPCentral site.