In response to extraordinary client demand for sophisticated government relations counsel, Cozen O’Connor has announced the formation of Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies LLC to offer enhanced government relations assistance in public policy advocacy, regulatory compliance, and contract procurement at the federal, state and local levels.

“The firm has offered government relations services for quite some time and with great success, but the team we have now allows us to take our advocacy work a step further,” said Tad Decker, president and CEO of Cozen O’Connor. “Our attorneys offer personal insights with a bipartisan approach to the issues.”

Federal efforts in Washington, D.C. will be led by Mark L. Alderman, who joined Cozen O’Connor in April of 2009. The former chairman of Wolf Block and its Government Relations and Public Strategies subsidiaries, Alderman has held many positions within the Democratic Party and served as a member of the Obama for America National Finance Committee.

State and local efforts, focused primarily in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware, will be led by Jeffrey L. Nash and Edward J. Hazzouri. Nash serves as the governor-appointed vice-chairman of the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and as a Camden County Freeholder, while Hazzouri held a number of positions working with state and local governmental entities on regulatory, legislative and community issues during his 23-year career at Sunoco.

At the request of Decker, Ambassador David F. Girard-diCarlo, Ret., will also play a leadership role in overseeing the growth of Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies. The former chairman of Blank Rome and Blank Rome Government Relations LLC, Girard-diCarlo joined Cozen O’Connor in April of 2009. He was appointed ambassador to Austria by President George W. Bush and has held many public positions. Active in the Republican Party, he served as Pennsylvania finance chair for two Republican presidential campaigns.

Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies clients will draw from a team of attorneys with deep experience working with, and in some cases for, a variety of government agencies and authorities, including veteran public policy professionals Stuart A. Shorenstein, Kenneth K. Fisher and David E. Bronston, all resident in Cozen O’Connor’s New York office. Shorenstein has more than 30 years of experience in communications law and served as a member of the Clinton/Gore transition team focusing on the Federal Communications Commission, among other prominent roles. Fisher is a former member of the New York City Council and regularly appears before New York agencies, and Bronston is a former general counsel of the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.