The category of lawyers and law firms encompasses both trade organizations that promote legislation and members of prestigious firms -- including former lawmakers and high-ranking government staffers -- who are highly involved in various political processes. Members of this group of politically embedded law firms frequently show up in the Center for Responsive Politics' Revolving Door database.

Each cycle, contributions from this group favor Democrats by a significant margin. In the 2014 election cycle, the industry contributed over $120 million to federal political candidates and interests, 70 percent of which went to Democrats.

In the 2012 presidential election, lawyers and law firms were a large source of campaign donations for both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney -- Obama received around $27.7 million and Romney received nearly $14.4 million.

The top contributor is the American Association for Justice, a group of plaintiffs' attorneys formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America whose main political priority is fending off changes to tort law pushed by conservatives. Since the 1990 election cycle, the AAJ has donated around $48 million, just seven percent of which has gone to Republicans.

Lobbying by lawyers and law firms has generally declined in recent years; in 2011, the industry spent nearly $21 million on federal lobbying, while in 2014 it had dropped to around $11.2 million. Again the American Association for Justice tops the list with around $3.9 million spent lobbyng in 2014 -- although its spending has steadily decreased from a peak in 2005 of over $7.2 million. The American Bar Association in 2014 placed second made $900,000 in lobbying expenditures, placing it a distant second to the AAJ. Individual law firms and other lawyers' organizations, such as Simmons Hanly Conroy, come in behind the ABA.

In recent years, the top issues that the AAJ has lobbied on relate in one way or another to torts, especially the effort by Republicans to limit damage awards to people injured by medical negligence. (especially with regards to health care). Bills that they've made a priority have included the Medical Device Safety Act, the Arbitration Fairness Act and the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act. Others: the Help, Efficient, Accessible, Low-Cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act, the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act and the Standard of Care Protection Act.

The HEALTH Act has been introduced in Congress numerous times since 2002, and even twice by two different Republican senators in 2011. The legislation would reduce healthcare liability claims shortening lawsuit filing times as well as limiting punitive damages and attorney contingency fees.

The industry has also lobbied in the past on measures to overhaul the arbitration process and change the patent system.

-- Alex Lazar

Updated August 2015

Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit OpenSecrets. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact OpenSecrets: [email protected]

Search our lobbying database

Count Cash & Make Change

Sign up for our newsletter to track money’s influence on U.S. elections and public policy.