Lobbying World

• Top K Street shop Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has added Hunter Bates, a former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Justin J. McCarthy, a former George W. Bush White House senior official, to its public law and policy practice. Bates, who most recently worked at a firm he founded, Republic Consulting, will serve as a partner. McCarthy, who previously worked at Peck Madigan Jones, will be a senior adviser. 

• FaegreBD hired Alison Watson as a partner in its insurance practice. Prior to that, she worked as the director of federal relations of insurance company Northwestern Mutual, beginning in 2008. She has also worked for Washington Mutual Inc., the American Bankers Association and the House Financial Services Committee.

{mosads}• Matthew J. Reilly, a former assistant director to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has joined Kirkland & Ellis as a partner. Reilly comes from the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. While at the FTC, he served as the head of the agency’s Mergers IV division, overseeing some of the most high-profile merger challenges.

• Forbes Tate named Adrienne Schweer as a senior vice president at the firm. She previously worked as the senior adviser for international protocol and as a strategist for outreach and external engagement to Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Deputy Secretary Bob Work. She has also held senior advocacy roles with The ONE Campaign and working in the office of then-Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.). 

• BerlinRosen expanded the leadership of its national public affairs by adding two vice presidents: Mike Webb, who will serve in the national issue advocacy practice in Washington, and Niketa Kumar, who will be based in New York and working in the labor and economy practice. Webb joins from ProPublica. Prior to joining the firm in 2014, Kumar worked at the Energy Department.  

• The Raben Group hired Heidi Nel away from Picture Motion, a PR and advocacy firm for issue-based films. Nel has also worked at FitzGibbon Media and Dewey Square Group. 

• American Frozen Food Institute hired Brandon Partridge as the senior vice president of industry development. Partridge comes from Skyland Foods, where he served as CEO.