Ballard Partners reports $34.9 million in lobbying fees, widening its lead on K Street

By Staff Reporter

WASHINGTON — Ballard Partners reported $34.89 million in lobbying fees for the third quarter, the most of any firm in a Washington Inquisitor review of reports filed through Tuesday’s deadline. That is up from $32.23 million in the second quarter and $24.98 million a year earlier, according to the firm’s 335 client reports in the Senate’s lobbying database.

Ballard’s lead over the next two firms widened. Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck reported $22.58 million and BGR Government Affairs $22.57 million, up 4% and 3% from the spring. Ballard’s total grew 8% over the same period and 40% from a year earlier.

Two other fast-growing firms also stand out. Miller Strategies reported $18.75 million, up 32% from a year earlier and just behind Akin Gump’s $18.85 million. Bloomberg Government noted in July that Miller Strategies, like Ballard, is run by a top Trump fundraiser. Checkmate Government Relations reported $13.03 million, up 80% from $7.23 million in the third quarter of 2025. Continental Strategy reported $13.22 million, up 58% from $8.38 million.

The rankings

Not every big firm grew. Holland & Knight reported $12.52 million, down from $13.43 million in the spring and $14.02 million a year earlier. K&L Gates reported $4.79 million, down from $5.53 million in the second quarter.

Hogan Lovells, which now files as Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, reported $2.92 million, down from $3.66 million in the second quarter and $4.5 million a year earlier. In late June it ended its registration for Tencent, which had paid it $410,000 in the second quarter. Valcour, a smaller firm, reported $2.68 million, more than double its $1.13 million of a year earlier. That includes $850,000 from Serbia’s Telekom Srbija.

What drives the totals

Ballard’s big tickets include $750,000 each from NeroBreeze Limited, a company owned by Switzerland’s Centalion Group, and from a law firm acting for Health Edge Investment Partners on False Claims Act enforcement. It also reported $630,000 from a law firm acting for Bancredito Holding, $600,000 each from Korea Zinc and NeoPrime Capital Partners, and $500,000 from King Ocean Services. The Inquisitor’s K Street Tracker lists the quarter’s largest single-client fees.

Checkmate’s largest third-quarter clients include Binance Holdings, at $750,000, on digital-asset policy and “executive relief,” and Noosheen Hashemi, for whom the firm filed both a $500,000 termination report and a $750,000 regular report.

How we counted

Rankings vary with method. LegiStorm, which uses its own estimates, put Ballard’s second-quarter revenue at $30.37 million. Bloomberg Government reported $63.5 million for Ballard’s first half. The Inquisitor added up the income each firm reported on its quarterly reports for the third quarter of 2026, the second quarter of 2026 and the third quarter of 2025. Where a firm filed more than one report for a client in a quarter, we used the most recent one.

We reviewed about 50 large and midsize firms. Firms we didn’t check could have reported more, and late or amended filings will change the figures. Reports also round to the nearest $10,000 and don’t show income under $5,000, and firms’ own revenue figures can include work that isn’t reported as lobbying.

Photo: K Street NW at 19th Street in Washington. Erifnam / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.