Government Relations.
Built From the Other Side of the Table.

We spent years hiring lobbyists, managing political fights and funding government relations campaigns ourselves. Then we built the firm we wished existed.

Apply to Work With Us How an engagement works

Strategy. Intelligence. Access. Accountability.

One team coordinating the people, intelligence and political infrastructure required to move complex government affairs objectives forward.

$10M

Deployed on state and federal engagements as the client

State + Federal

Vetoes, proposed bans, extensions, negotiated legislation

Multi-firm

Lobbyists, firms and pollsters hired, managed and measured

Selective

Engagements accepted only where there is a credible path to impact

The Problem

When government threatens your business, you need more than a lobbyist.

Lobbyists matter. But hiring one is only part of solving a political problem. The harder part is knowing who to hire, what they should be doing, whether the strategy is working, and what has to happen next. Most executives end up coordinating all of that themselves. You need to know:

What's happening.

Not just what is being said publicly — what is actually moving, and what it means for your business.

Who matters.

The people who can affect the outcome — and where each of them stands today.

What your options are.

The realistic paths forward, what each costs, and which one fits your timeline.

What your team is doing.

Whether everyone you are paying is working the same strategy — and whether it is working.

What needs to happen next.

The next decision, the next meeting, the next deadline — before it is too late to act.

We bring the right people, strategy and information together around one goal: protecting and advancing your business.

What We Do

You tell us the problem. We take ownership of it.

You should not need to become a government relations expert to manage a government relations effort. We determine the landscape, decide who needs to be involved, build or coordinate the team, set the strategy, track what is happening, and keep you informed as it changes.

Understand the fight before you spend on it

We map your objective, the political environment, who is opposed, who can help, the timeline, and a realistic path forward — before money goes out the door.

The right people in the right rooms

We build or coordinate your lobbying team at the state and federal level — and make sure everyone you are paying is working toward the same goal.

Know what's actually happening

Know when a bill changes, who is behind it, what a regulator is really signaling, and what it means for your business — not just what is said publicly.

One strategy across every state where you are at risk

Multiple firms, lobbyists, jurisdictions and stakeholders run through one command structure, so the effort stays coordinated and accountable.

When lawmakers need to hear from the people affected

We help organize employees, customers and industry participants so policymakers hear directly from constituents — when the moment calls for it.

Know who can affect the outcome — and where they stand

We identify the people, organizations, coalitions and relationships capable of moving the result, and build a plan around each of them.

Already spending heavily on government relations?

We audit what you have — the firms, the lobbyists, the intelligence flow, the results — and tell you what is working, what is missing, and where money may be getting wasted.

Request an audit

How an Engagement Works

You should not have to run this yourself.

A CEO should not be personally coordinating five lobbyists, three firms, a trade association, grassroots efforts and legislative intelligence — while trying to figure out whether everyone is executing the same plan. We become the command center.

01
Tell us the problem.
You apply. We review every application personally and, if there is a credible fit, invite you to a strategy call.
02
We determine the political landscape.
Who decides, who is opposed, who can help, what the timeline really is, and what a realistic path looks like.
03
We build or coordinate the right team.
The lobbyists, specialists, counsel and coalitions your specific fight needs — working from one strategy.
04
We track what is happening.
Structured reporting from everyone on the engagement, turned into one clear weekly briefing for you.
05
We keep you informed and adjust.
You always know where things stand, what is at risk, what we need from you, and what happens next.

How We Deliver It

Your entire government relations operation. One command center.

Every engagement runs on infrastructure we built because we needed it ourselves. It is how we keep a complex, multi-firm, multi-state effort pointed at the same objective — and how you always know what is happening, what we are doing about it, and what needs to happen next.

This is the briefing a client receives each week — one page, verified, with the decisions that need you called out.

Weekly Briefing

State legislative matter · Week of Aug 24

1 item needs your decision

Direction

Moderate progress

Threat level

3 / 5 — elevated

Confidence

68% on track

Next critical event

Committee vote — Tue, 9:00 AM

Key intelligence · verified

Substitute language circulating from the Senate sponsor narrows the affected product class. Confirmed with two committee staff; original ban text is no longer the working draft.

Lobbyist activity · 3 firms reporting

Leadership office meeting — chair staff briefed on amendment language
Agency comment letter filed ahead of Friday deadline
Coalition call — two trade groups aligned on messaging

Illustrative briefing. Client details are confidential.

Lobbyist activity

Every meeting, contact and commitment, reported on a schedule — not when someone remembers.

Legislative intelligence

What changed, who is behind it, and what it means — verified before it reaches you.

Grassroots advocacy

Constituent outreach run inside the engagement, with participation and coverage you can see.

Political engagement

Coordinated through official channels, with clear separation from lobbying strategy and appropriate compliance controls.

Critical alerts

Intelligence that needs verification, decisions that need you, deadlines that cannot slip.

Strategy

The objective, the current situation, the risks and the next critical event — readable in thirty seconds.

Reporting

Twelve disconnected updates become one weekly government relations briefing.

All connected to the same objective.

The software supports the service. It does not replace it.

Built From the Client Side

Nobody was accountable for the whole effort. So we built the firm that is.

Most companies facing a consequential government decision end up with capable lobbyists, a firm or two, pollsters and grassroots vendors — and no one responsible for making all of it work toward one outcome. Money gets spent in the wrong places at the wrong moments, intelligence stalls between firms, and the executive writing the checks is the last to know what is actually happening.

Capital Arc exists to be that accountable party. It coordinates strategy, people, intelligence and reporting around a single objective, and it runs on infrastructure developed for that purpose. The method applies to any business facing a state or federal fight.

The firm comes from the client side of the table. Its founder, Patrick O'Brien, spent close to a decade as the principal of a company in a heavily regulated industry, directing nearly $10 million in state and federal fights — veto efforts, proposed bans, negotiated legislation and agency action — and hiring, managing and measuring the people that work required. That record is where the method comes from.

Patrick O'Brien, founder of Capital Arc — Patrick O'BrienFounder, Capital Arc

From the record

Executive order signing in the Oval Office affecting a regulated industry — Executive order signing, the White House

Capital Arc is non-partisan. Images document work performed on behalf of clients and are not endorsements of any official, candidate or party.

The Team

Assembled around your problem, not a fixed roster.

Each engagement is led by a Capital Arc account strategist and staffed from a senior bench of former government officials, counsel and sector specialists — selected for the decision-makers and jurisdictions in your specific matter. We work alongside your existing lobbyists and advisors where they are effective, and bring in others where they are not.

Former White House Chiefs of Staff

Advisors who have run the executive decision process and understand how, and by whom, a decision is actually made.

Former Leadership Chiefs of Staff

Senior staff to House and Senate leadership who know where a bill really lives, which member can move it, and what leadership needs in order to act.

Legislative & Regulatory Counsel

Drafters and negotiators who have written statutory and regulatory language, carried it through committee, and defended it — at the federal and state level.

Health & Life Sciences Specialists

Practitioners with working knowledge of FDA, CMS and the committee staff who determine what is approved, reimbursed or restricted.

Technology & Telecom Strategists

Advisors experienced in antitrust, platform regulation, spectrum and the agencies that oversee them.

Field & Mobilization Directors

Operators who organize employees, customers and industry participants so policymakers hear from constituents — engaged when a fight calls for it.

Founder Patrick O'Brien serves as the senior strategist on every engagement. Advisors are engaged for the specific matter; the firm does not sell access to names on a letterhead.

Work With Us

Tell us what you're up against.

A short application tells us your industry, where the fight is happening, who is already involved and what is at stake. We review every application personally and invite qualified companies to a strategy call within one business day.

Apply to Work With Us

Confidential · No obligation · We will tell you honestly if we are not the right fit.

Government Relations.Built From the Other Side of the Table.