Alston & Bird announced today that Laura Friedel has joined its Health Care Legislative & Public Policy Group as a senior policy advisor in Washington, D.C. Laura is a former staff director of the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee.
“Laura’s appropriations experience and unique perspective on the inner workings of The Hill will strengthen our ability to help clients advance priorities in key areas such as public health, medical research, labor, education, and appropriations,” said Tim Trysla, Alston & Bird partner and chair of Alston & Bird’s health care policy practice. “Her thorough understanding of federal funding and decision-making will strengthen our bipartisan and bicameral Legislative & Public Policy Team and the value we deliver across industries.”
Before joining Alston & Bird, Laura held senior Senate staff roles for more than 20 years, advising on budget, policy, and legislative matters. As staff director for the Senate subcommittee responsible for funding the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, she directed appropriations work, shaped legislative strategy, and set funding priorities. She also served as a lead negotiator on five COVID-19 relief bills enacted in 2020.
“I have admired Alston & Bird’s collaborative culture and cross-disciplinary approach throughout my career, and I’m delighted to join a team that is so well positioned to help clients navigate an increasingly complex policy landscape,” said Laura. “It’s exciting to draw on the vast resources available through the firm’s robust practice platform to advise on complex funding and policy issues.”
Alston & Bird’s Legislative & Public Policy Team provides trusted counsel that enhances clients’ abilities to strategically advocate for their interests on Capitol Hill and throughout the Executive Branch. The firm’s policy advisors represent clients and coalitions before Congress and federal regulatory agencies, focusing on health care, tax, international trade, food and beverage, agribusiness, immigration, and other critical business issues.
The team includes:
- Jane Lucas, public policy and health care counsel to the first Trump Administration and Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s former legislative director.
- Joe Boddicker, Thune’s former tax and trade counsel, as well as tax counsel to the Senate Finance Committee under Chairman Mike Crapo.
- JP Paluskiewicz, former chief counsel to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, overseeing all policy matters under the committee’s jurisdiction.
- Kristi Boswell, a senior advisor to the Secretary of Agriculture, drafting H-2A regulatory reforms and immigration legislation during the first Trump Administration.
- Elinor Hiller, who previously served at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where she was most recently Administrator Seema Verma’s senior advisor for Medicare. She also served as a CMS Office of Legislation group director during the Obama-to-Trump transition in 2017.
- Kevin Minoli, lead attorney advising the EPA during the transition from the Obama Administration to the first Trump Administration and the EPA’s acting general counsel for the first year of President Trump’s first term.
- Alex Graf, deputy assistant secretary for legislation at the Department of Health and Human Services, developing and executing the department’s legislative agenda and congressional liaison activities covering multiple federal agencies.