When Gary Alexander and James Cleaver speak, they do it for the powerful, the many, and the many powerful. Their government relations branch has had former House of Delegates Speaker Cas Taylor for four years. They have another unique trait: a staff with nearly every member a well known person throughout town.

This is the other practice with a point person in every corner of power in the state. Its size and scope is known to have brought diverse interests together under its own roof. If it didn’t solve the problem, they can at least anticipate the coming political storms.

When a firm this massive has a considerable amount of personnel in the state, it’s going to be a major player. Organizations like these can move mountains when they choose to. An interesting note: DLA Piper is surely Rep. Cummings’ favorite firm at the moment, as its lawyers wrote the Mitchell Report on steroid abuse in baseball.

If a Maryland pol – Democrat or Republican – finds himself facing hard time, this firm is at the top of his or her shortlist. Founder Joshua Treem has represented several high profile defendants, including the likes of Tom Bromwell and Bruce Bereano.

This practice has a strong state identity, and a PAC that gets its donations into the campaign coffers of every important politician in the General Assembly, large or small.