The 2014 Republican Lawyer of the Year: Mark Braden

The Board of Governors of the Republican National Lawyers Association is pleased to announce the selection of E. Mark Braden as the 2014 Republican Lawyer of the Year. This award recognizes lawyers for outstanding professional accomplishments and years of dedicated service to the Republican Party and its ideals.

Mark will be presented the award at a special reception in his honor on July 22.  More details are here.  Photos from our 2013 Republican Lawyer of the Year Ceremony honoring George Terwilliger and featuring Senators Jeff Session and Ted Cruz and RNC Chair Reince Priebus are here Some details on that reception are here.

Mark Braden concentrates his work principally on the law of the political process, including work with election and campaign agencies, voting issues, redistricting, and ethics and lobbying regulations—areas in which he has substantial knowledge and unusual experience. Mark spent 10 years as Chief Counsel to the Republican National Committee prior to joining BakerHostetler. He is widely recognized for his knowledge on state election laws, having served as Chief Counsel to the Ohio Elections Commission and Election Counsel for the Secretary of State in Ohio. Mark has played a large part in campaign finance and was the father of "soft money" as originally used in national campaigns.

Mark is also RNLA’s counsel and a longtime member of its board. 

Mark is a member of the adjunct faculty of George Washington University and was Special Election Law Counsel to the United States House of Representatives' Administration Committee. He has testified before congressional committees and the Federal Election Commission, and his experience in the legal and political arena has resulted in invitations to lecture at universities and institutes nationwide. He has authored Election Reform in the United States after Bush v. Gore, ed. Grofman & Alvarez, Chapter: "Entering the Political Thicket" (Cambridge University Press, 2013).

Mark has represented Republican members of, or candidates for, the United States Senate, United States House, Governors, former Cabinet Secretaries and Presidential Candidates on campaign financing, and ethical issues/criminal and civil enforcement. Mark also assists nonprofit organization in such context, advising on issues related to fundraising restrictions, ethical concerns based on lobbying requirements, and completed campaign funding issues.

Mark has been lead counsel in redistricting/Voting Rights Acts litigation in recent cycles in Ohio, New York, Wyoming, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Georgia, Nevada, Maryland, and Connecticut. He has argued at the U.S. Supreme Court and state Supreme Courts throughout the country, in which the redistricting at issue was affirmed.

Mark has been a principal lawyer in many of the largest recounts in political history, including recount and contests litigation in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, California, North Carolina, Virginia, Illinois, New Jersey, Washington, and New Mexico. Mark was a key negotiator for convention contracts and site city agreements for the 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992 Republican National Conventions. Mark has also served as international election consultant on a dozen different national election systems for International Republican Institute (IRI), International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), National Democratic Institute (NDI), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).