Al is the co-chair of the firm's Government Relations Department. He is well known for his extensive experience in telecommunications policy in the Congress and at the Federal Communications Commission.

Al has helped numerous major corporations and other clients develop and execute complex public policy advocacy strategies in the Congress and in many Executive Branch Agencies, including the FCC, the FTC, and the Department of Agriculture. He has provided strategic counsel to clients primarily in the financial services, pharmaceutical, telecommunications and media sectors of the economy.

Prior to joining the firm, Al served as senior communications counsel for the United States Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Al served in this role as a senior staffer for Senator Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC) who was both the ranking member and the Chairman of the Committee during Al's time in the Senate. As committee counsel for four years, he was responsible for all telecommunications legislation, policy and hearings in the Senate Commerce Committee, including privacy, broadcast, cable, satellite, media ownership rules, Internet, common carrier, spectrum, wireless issues and oversight of the FCC.

Before joining the Commerce Committee senior staff, Al was an attorney at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer Feld's Washington, DC office, where he represented clients on a variety of public policy issues before Congress and the Clinton Administration, including telecommunications, intellectual property, internet issues, electricity deregulation and Puerto Rico's political status. Al began his legal career as a law clerk in the U.S. District Court in Bangor, Maine, following his graduation from Georgetown University Law School.

Al has been principally involved in many successful efforts including:

• In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, successfully worked with policymakers to make it possible for the satellite industry to compete for stimulus funding for broadband infrastructure.
• In Health Care Reform, aided a major pharmaceutical company in its successful fight to preserve patent protection for costly, research intensive, biological pharmaceutical products.
• At the FCC, worked successfully to overturn a bureau level decision eliminating a client's satellite license authorization and obtain a favorable decision from the Commission reinstating the license.
• Spearheaded a successful negotiation involving a telecommunications company and two federal agencies resulting in a favorable outcome for the client, thereby preserving its business model.
• Amending the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to eliminate frivolous lawsuits against private contractors working on behalf of hundreds of America’s district attorneys.
• Managing a client's sensitive settlement discussions with the enforcement bureau of the FCC to minimize the fine ultimately levied by the Commission.