Last month, just ahead of the fiscal cliff deal and as part of the NLJ’s Regulatory Summit, the top partners at five big Washington firms explored the year ahead for the business of law and the state of the regulatory and political climates in D.C.

The panelists included Richard Alexander, managing partner of Arnold & Porter; Bobby Burchfield, co-head of McDermott Will & Emery’s Washington office; R. Bruce McLean, chairman of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; and Richard Wiley, chairman of Wiley Rein. Aric Press, ALM’s editor in chief, moderated the panel.