Two Covington & Burling partners have registered to lobby for the Filipino media site Rappler and its chief executive, now on trial for alleged libel in a case that supporters contend is tied to her criticism of the country’s president.

The Washington-based Covington lawyers, Peter Lichtenbaum and Kurt Wimmer, said in a lobbying registration they would “seek to build awareness and concern about the unfounded charges brought against Rappler and its CEO and executive editor Maria Ressa in the Philippines.”