Partner Josh Rosenstein was quoted in an article about the latest batch of advisory opinions released by the The Justice Department’s FARA Unit.
“I do think that it has the possibility to have wide-ranging ramifications for any company which is hired simply to distribute content, you know, whether or not that company has a specific agreement with the foreign government beyond its regular terms of use,” said Josh Rosenstein, an attorney at Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock who advises clients on FARA compliance.”
Partner Josh Rosenstein was quoted in an article about conservative blogger Rod Dreher needing to register under FARA for his work with a Hungarian think tank funded by Hungary’s far-right government.
Josh Rosenstein, a member of D.C. law firm Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock, P.C., specializes in FARA and reviewed the contract. “If this were someone I was representing,” Rosenstein said in an interview, “I would recommend prophylactic registration.”
Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock P.C. (Sandler Reiff), a pre-eminent political law boutique in Washington, D.C., is pleased to announce the promotion of Erin Tibe to the position of Member of the Firm.
Sandler Reiff advises clients involved in the business of politics, including candidates and officeholders, political committees, party committees, nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, communications, consulting, and government relations firms, as well as major contributors to political and nonprofit groups.
Erin’s practice focuses on three core areas — advising progressive organizations and candidates on compliance with nonprofit tax, campaign finance, and voting laws; counseling federal and state officeholders on their ethics and financial disclosure requirements; and advising organizations and government affairs firms on compliance with the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and state and local lobbying laws. Erin’s clients include Fair Fight Action, a Georgia-based voting rights organization with national reach, and Civic Nation, the nonprofit ecosystem home to high-impact initiatives like When We All Vote, the United State of Women, and the Change Collective.
“In guiding our clients through the legal thicket of regulation of campaigns, nonprofit operations and advocacy, Erin brings to her practice a truly extraordinary combination of real-world campaign experience in the trenches and legal expertise and skill,” said Joseph Sandler, co-founder and shareholder of the Firm. “We are thrilled to welcome Erin to the partnership.”
Prior to joining Sandler Reiff, Erin served as Compliance Director to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Presidential campaign and to Alison Lundergan Grimes’ 2014 United States Senate campaign in Erin’s home state of Kentucky. Erin graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif and is a Xavier University alum.
On February 14th, 2023, Senior Counsel Erin Tibe testified at an FEC public hearing on audit procedures for committees that do not receive public funds.
“Erin Tibe said she believes that the current audit process provides an appropriate balance between the need to conduct a thorough review of the committee’s activities while providing ample opportunity for an audited committee to provide factual and legal information and responses to the Commission. However, she noted that the current procedures require audited committees to dispute factual and legal issues continuously throughout the audit process. She encouraged the Commission to decide legal issues early in the process to conserve valuable time and resources for both the Commission and the audited committees.”
Associate Eric Lynch recently published an article discussing the set of D.C. Council resolutions aimed at reforming the District’s criminal code & the federal government’s response. Read the article here.
Partner Josh Rosenstein was quoted in an article about possible violations of FARA by US-based digital influencers who were targeting Al-Jazeera journalist Ghada Oueiss online. One of these digital influencers was likely paid by a Saudi prince for her tweets, and is currently under investigation by the FBI.
“This breadth of activity is precisely the sort of activity that our Department of Justice would likely want to look into…to figure out whether or not there is a need to register [with FARA] and whether or not there has been some violation of the law,” Joshua Ian Rosenstein, an attorney specialized in FARA, said.”
Partner Josh Rosenstein was quoted in an article about a lawyer purportedly lobbying for Albania in The Daily Beast.
“The fact pattern certainly raised additional questions for me,” said Joshua Rosenstein, an attorney with the firm Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock.
Rosenstein, like all of the legal authorities The Daily Beast consulted for this story, stressed that the crucial question is whether Kokalari had met the criteria to be considered an agent of a foreign principal under the federal Foreign Agent Registration Act. Crucial to this is whether Kokalari was ever compensated for her work, and whether she operated under the direction or control of another foreign actor.
Partner Josh Rosenstein was quoted in an article about FARA exposure for think tanks that involve foreign government officials in their activities.
Joshua Ian Rosenstein, an attorney focused on FARA at Sandler Reiff law firm, told Responsible Statecraft that the scenario of a foreign politician serving on the advisory board of a program at U.S. think tank wouldn’t necessarily trigger a FARA registration but he would advise a stringent set of measures in order to avoid a principal-agent relationship between the foreign individual and the U.S. think tank. “I would recommend a set of guardrails to make sure that this foreign individual serves only in an honorary or advisory capacity and that officers and directors do not need to follow their directions,” said Rosenstein. “I might go even further as suggesting that the foreign advisor not make specific recommendations about programmatic activities.”
Partner Joe Sandler & Associate Christina Bustos, with the help of Legal Assistant Hannah Van Buskirk, recently won an important trial court judgment against Project Veritas, securing a jury verdict in favor of our client on all counts.
As reported by Politico, the jury “awarded $120,000 in damages to Democratic consulting firms targeted by Project Veritas, a conservative group specializing in hidden-camera video stings, in connection with recordings made in 2016 by an operative who obtained an internship using a false name and story.”
Partners Joe Sandler, Neil Reiff, and Joe Birkenstock were recently named to the Top Lawyers Hall of Fame published by Washingtonian magazine, making Sandler Reiff the only political law boutique with three lawyers awarded this honor. Read the article here.