Ex-Sen. Richard Burr is mounting a comeback to Capitol Hill – as a registered lobbyist for Duke University and other clients reeling from threats of Elon Musk’s DOGE federal funding cuts.
Now finished with a two-year ban on lobbying Congress that applies to all recent senators, Burr (R-N.C.) said he will represent Duke, its home-state rival University of North Carolina as well as Wake Forest University, his alma mater.
Duke, where Burr is a distinguished fellow in the Sanford School of Public Policy, said this week it would freeze hiring and eye cost-savings, as the Trump administration works to slash federal spending through the Department of Government Efficiency.
“Duke has retained DLA Piper for their services related to government relations activities in Washington, D.C., on issues including student aid, research and tax policies,” said Steve Hartsoe, assistant director of media relations for Duke University.
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Burr, who was the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions panel and one-time chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, also will lobby for the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America,
Burr doesn’t plan to be on Capitol Hill every day, but he said he doesn’t view lobbying negatively and plans to file lobbying disclosures next week for his clients.
“I was the recipient of it for 30 years,” he said. “I tended to rate people’s effectiveness.”
The goal, he said, is to tell clients what’s on the horizon, a tall order in the Trump 2.0 era.
The changes underway in the Trump administration have clients and companies on edge, he said, with CEOs saying, “‘I had no idea what to do because I don’t understand what’s going on.’”
“That’s the gap we’re filling,” Burr said.
He’s spent the past two years helping bulk up a “strategic advisory” unit on the third floor of DLA Piper’s Washington office, an enclave he said feels almost like a tech startup.
“I was a spark at the right time,” he said in an interview there. “The progress that we’ve made in really a short two years is by many measurements sort of astonishing.”
Fraught Time
DLA Piper’s lobbying revenue in 2024 was up more than 13% to $11.6 million from $10.2 million the previous year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Government.
“Washington is still very relationship driven, but it is also very transactional,” he said.
It’s a particularly fraught time in higher education, and more universities are hiring K Street help.
The Trump administration has moved to slash federal grants and government dollars for university research and said it wants to wind down the Department of Education. Education Secretary Linda McMahon offered a speech about the department’s “final mission.”
Lawmakers also have proposed increases to university endowment taxes.
“We’re very aggressive in the higher education space, and I think that will only grow based upon the likelihood there’s no Department of Education going forward,” Burr said.
AI Insight
AI and tech-focused clients are part of Burr’s portfolio, and across industries he said he spends about 30% of his time on AI matters.
Tony Samp, a former aide to Sen.
Burr said that between the two of them, the firm had insight into a four-senator AI working group spearheaded by then-Senate Majority Leader
“It gave us access to what they were talking about, what they were thinking, which is absolutely vital to our clients,” Burr said.
In the Trenches
Former members, like Burr, offer clients a unique view of and access to policy debates among their old colleagues, said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, a corporate and influence watchdog organization.
“The collegiality and friendships they formed, in the trenches doing the same job, gives them a different type of connection, one that has become a currency that they’re able to trade on,” she said.
Burr served 10 years in the House starting in 1995. He then moved to the Senate in 2005, where he logged three terms and once was a chief deputy whip.
Burr said he joined the firm in 2023, just after leaving the Senate, because of its global reach (it has offices in Brussels, Tokyo, and around the world) and legal bench. He brought along former aides including Michael Sorensen, Vanessa Le, Margaret Martin, and Rachel Portman.
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