The lawyers in Vinson & Elkins' Washington, DC law office handle business, litigation, and regulatory matters involving both the federal government and the private sector. Many of our Washington attorneys have government experience directly relevant to our practice areas, having served at several federal departments and agencies, including the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

The office's practice areas, within broad groupings, are outlined below.

Antitrust
Vinson & Elkins represents clients on a variety of antitrust matters before the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, state antitrust authorities and in the federal courts. Our lawyers regularly counsel clients on complex mergers, acquisitions, and other competitor collaborations, and represent them through the Hart-Scott-Rodino process.  We also represent clients in enforcement investigations, antitrust grand jury, and other criminal proceedings, and in civil antitrust litigation. 

Business Transactions
V&E's Corporate practice provides business counseling on domestic and international mergers and acquisitions; public and privatization finance; real estate, and energy finance transactions; government procurement; and regulatory matters.

Corporate and Securities Law
We handle matters relating to mergers and acquisitions, recapitalization and assistance transactions, day-to-day regulatory counseling, product development, compliance, enforcement, litigation, legislation, and other issues. We regularly advise our clients on matters relating to disclosure under the securities laws. We also represent issuers and underwriters in private and public offerings of debt and equity securities.

Energy
Our domestic and international Energy practice extends through the full range of transactional, regulatory, and litigation activities, including acquisitions, financing, enforcement, rates, and import and export matters. We have represented producers, pipelines and shippers in U.S. and non-U.S. gas sales, gas transportation, gas storage, LNG storage, LNG sales and related contracts. In addition, we have advised interstate and intrastate pipelines; transportation customers of regulated natural gas pipelines and local distribution companies on compliance with federal and state regulations. We are also experienced in electric utility, independent power, power marketing, alternative energy projects, coal, and other energy issues.

Environmental
Our Environmental practice encompasses matters relating to environmental policy, regulation, litigation, business transactions, and legislation. Our experience includes defense of governmental enforcement actions (criminal, civil, and administrative), environmental liabilities associated with business and real estate transactions, climate change, air quality, asbestos, water quality, solid and hazardous waste, toxic substances, wetlands, endangered species, historic preservation, and environmental impact assessment.

Government Procurement and Sanctions
V&E lawyers counsel both domestic and foreign clients on commercial, investment, and regulatory matters involving international business interests. Our practice encompasses all matters involving import and export trade regulations and government contracting. Those matters include anti-bribery, export controls, foreign investment restrictions, sanctions, customs regulations, bid protests, and other procurement issues.

Legislative
Lawyers in our Washington office represent clients before the U.S. Congress in legislation and congressional investigations. We have been involved in energy, tax, health care and telecommunications legislation. We also have experience representing clients in matters of public policy in banking, energy, environmental, financial, international trade, procurement, and other areas. Our attorneys have also been actively involved in matters of international public policy. As an international law firm, our attorneys have assisted the governments of foreign countries in establishing policies for their growth and development while also maintaining consistency with worldwide trends.

Litigation – Civil, Criminal, Administrative
We have an extensive litigation practice in Washington and throughout the country. We practice before federal and state courts and administrative agencies. Our litigation includes antitrust, banking, bankruptcy, condemnation, commercial, energy, environmental, financial instruments, government contracts, health care, international trade, sanctions, securities, tax, labor and employment, and tort matters. We also handle the defense of white-collar criminal matters and congressional inquiries, as well as internal corporate investigations. V&E also represents clients in international litigation, arbitrations, and appeals.

Public Finance
Our public finance lawyers are involved in all aspects of public and private offerings of securities by state and local governments and by non-profit institutions, such as hospitals and private universities. We represent state agencies, cities, counties, school districts, housing agencies, river authorities and special utility districts in bond financing transactions. Our lawyers have assisted public bodies to develop financing possibilities for all types of public infrastructure needs. We also represent entities responsible for the investment of public funds.

Taxation
Vinson & Elkins lawyers handle a wide range of federal tax matters, including planning, controversy, administrative, and legislative. Our tax attorneys regularly advise on tax aspects of business transactions, the interaction of international tax regimes, and the elimination of multiple-country taxation of income. We handle contested proceedings before the Internal Revenue Service, the Tax Court and the Claims Court, as well as civil and criminal enforcement matters.

Did You Know
We are located in the Willard office building adjacent to the historic Willard Inter-Continental Hotel, which has welcomed every American president from Franklin Pierce in 1853 to Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s. This location puts you in the heart of the city, with easy access to government offices, business and financial centers and many cultural and entertainment venues. We are just two blocks from Metro Center, the hub of the city’s underground transit system. The Mall and its many museums are within walking distance. Travel time to Reagan National Airport is just 15 minutes, and both Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Dulles International Airport are 45 minutes away.