Laurence E. Gold is a partner at Trister, Ross, Schadler & Gold, PLLC. He principally represents labor, political, advocacy and charitable organizations, political services providers and activists so they can succeed in the political, legislative and policy arenas. Mr. Gold focuses on federal and state campaign finance, election, lobbying, tax, labor, ethics, and general nonprofit law.

Mr. Gold litigates cases, provides advice and counsel, prepares amicus curiae briefs, and conducts legal trainings for political, lobbying and accounting staff. He frequently helps new organizations get off the ground and then works closely with them in every legal aspect of their operations. Mr. Gold defends clients facing complaints, investigations and audits before the Federal Election Commission, state election agencies and the Internal Revenue Service. He also participates in their regulatory, advisory opinion and other proceedings.

Following the 2020 national election, Mr. Gold joined the Biden-Harris Transition as a member of the Department of Justice Agency Review Team, where he undertook the incoming Administration’s review of the Federal Election Commission and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

In 2003 Mr. Gold argued before the United States Supreme Court in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, one of the Court’s landmark campaign-finance cases, on behalf of a broad coalition of labor and other groups seeking a First Amendment ruling striking down unprecedented restrictions on independent broadcast communications by unions and other nonprofit organizations. The Court ruled otherwise, 5-4, but the Court has since invalidated these restrictions in subsequent decisions in which Mr. Gold authored amicus curiae briefs. Among his other cases is AFL-CIO v. Federal Election Commission (D.C. Cir.), which established that the First Amendment precludes the FEC from placing on the public record confidential documents of organizations merely because they have been the subjects of an FEC investigation.

Earlier in his legal career, Mr. Gold practiced labor and employment law on behalf of national labor organizations and allied groups, including in private practice and as Associate General Counsel of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, and then as Associate General Counsel of the AFL-CIO, where he focused on advising and defending the national labor federation’s political and advocacy activities. That background has proven especially useful in assisting organizations of all kinds to use the law most effectively to achieve their political, legislative and policy goals. 

Education:
Cornell Law School, J.D.
Amherst College, B.A.

Bar admission:
United States Supreme Court
United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits
District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Activities:
Member, AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee
Former Member, American Bar Association, Advisory Commission to the Standing Committee on Election Law
Former Co-Chair, Labor Relations Section, District of Columbia Bar

Publications:
The Rules of the Game: An Election Year Guide for 501(c)(3) Organizations, (Alliance for Justice, 2010) (co-author)
The Effect of Citizens United on Tax and Campaign Laws Governing Tax-Exempt Organizations,” 65 Exempt Org. Tax Rev. 229 (March 2010) (with B. Holly Schadler)
Articles in Roll Call, Washington Lawyer, Dissent, The Nation and other publications

Presentations and Appearances:
Testimony before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and the Committee on House Administration on proposals to amend federal campaign finance law.

Speeches and participation on panels sponsored by the Bureau of National Affairs, Practicing Law Institute, American Constitution Society, Campaign for America’s Future, AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, and other organizations.