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ARTICLE · 22 MAY 2012

Question Of Ethics: Communications With Congress Carry New Risks

McGuireWoods LLP
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Last month, President Barack Obama signed into law the STOCK Act, which "affirms" that Members and staffers have a duty not to trade on material, nonpublic information they learn while doing their jobs.

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector
C. Simon Davidson
C. Simon Davidson

Originally published in Roll Call (May 15, 2012)

Q: I am a lobbyist and I have a question about the insider trading restrictions under the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act. A friend who is a lawyer told me that restrictions on insider trading by Members and staffers mean that I need to be careful about my communications with lawmakers. But I am pretty sure that the restrictions on gathering political intelligence were removed from the bill before it was passed. This is important to me because I am always discussing potential government action with staffers. I want to make sure my discussions could not somehow expose me to legal liability. There are no new restrictions on such communications, right?

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