One on One with FTI's Jackson Dunn

As the regulatory climate in Washington becomes more stringent, actions taken by lawmakers can now more than ever have far-reaching consequences on businesses' future plans. Accessing those lawmakers and their staff is becoming ever more important for firms working within the public sector or other highly-regulated industries. The key to that access in many cases is lobbying. Sensing the increased need for experts to navigate the regulatory and legislative minefields, FTI Consulting has acquired C2 Group, a bipartisan government relations lobbying firm, to help clients gain insight into the motivations of policy elites. Jackson Dunn, FTI's head of public affairs, expects more firms to offer lobbying services down the line.

Consulting: Was the acquisition a play for FTI to get a toe hold in lobbying or for C2 to get into consulting?

Dunn: I think both FTI and C2 can sort of see where the future of this industry is going. We work with companies going through a moment of change in their business plan. It could be an investigation, it could be litigation they didn't expect, an acquisition, regulatory issues—you name it. That's when FTI is usually called in. Sometimes those issues cross and align where Washington gets involved. What we've done in public affairs in the past few years is work with our clients, mostly C-suite and boards of directors, who are coming to this understanding that activity in Washington can have a disproportionate impact on their business planning. What is congress looking at that might muddy the waters on an acquisition?