Nearly a year since he announced his retirement from Congress, former House Speaker John Boehner is joining a high-powered lobbying firm in Washington, D.C.
The longtime Ohio Republican, 66, has signed up with Squire Patton Boggs, a white-shoe law firm that represents a breadth of clients including Fortune 100 companies, local governments and up-and-coming businesses.
“I left the private sector and got into public service decades ago because I wanted to help remove government barriers to economic growth and job creation, and that’s still the mission that drives me,” Boehner said in a statement posted Tuesday on the firm’s website.
“With Speaker Boehner joining our team, we’re better positioned than ever to grow our brand throughout the world and to fully capitalize on our integrated global platform,” Squire Patton Boggs chairman Mark Ruehlmann said.
Boehner won’t be doing lobbying work, according to the firm, but will serve as a “strategic advisor” to domestic and international clients, with a special focus on “global business development.”
The National Law Journal, which put Squire Patton Boggs’ gross revenue at $929 million for 2015, reported that Boehner will be splitting his time between the capital and Cincinnati, where Ruehlmann also has an office.
The firm is a behemoth among law outfits that focus on lobbying and related legal services ― employing upwards of 1,500 lawyers and with offices in 21 countries.
Perhaps as a result of its Cleveland roots, the shop hosted a series of swanky events at the Republican National Convention in July — including a reception featuring Boehner and former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who has done lobbying work for Russia and other clients for Squire Patton Boggs.
A pair of congressional aides who worked with Boehner will also join his team at the firm. Two others, his former deputy chief of staff and policy adviser while he was speaker, left for Squire before Boehner retired from the House in 2015.
Last week, Reynolds American, the tobacco giant, announced Boehner would be joining the company’s board of directors.