Michael Bell represents numerous national and multinational corporations and trade associations before the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government. His practice focuses on a wide range of issues related to government regulation, corporate criminalization, and congressional investigations, in such areas as transportation, energy, technology, and trade. Michael also provides strategic counsel to entities as they navigate through complex government processes and deal with crisis management. In addition, Michael advises clients with respect to compliance with federal and state election laws, including the formation and administration of political action committees, the Lobbying Disclosure Act, and congressional ethics rules. Prior to joining the firm, Michael served in numerous government positions. Most recently, he served in the Office of Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice. In this position, he represented the Justice Department before Congress, formulated policy positions, and helped craft the agency’s legislative strategy on a variety of issues from counterterrorism policy and immigration to criminal and antitrust initiatives. Before joining the Justice Department, Michael served as Deputy Associate Director of Presidential Personnel at the White House where he recruited, interviewed, and evaluated candidates to serve in senior-level positions at the Departments of Justice, Energy, Defense, and Homeland Security. From 1998 to 2001, Michael served in the legislative branch on the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee and in the office of Senator Orrin G. Hatch. During this time, he gained experience in all phases of the legislative process, including legislative drafting, committee hearings and markups, Senate floor strategy, and conference negotiations. J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 2005 B.A., California State University, Fullerton, with highest honors, 1998