When Lori Kalani was senior in-house counsel and director of government affairs for DISH Network Corp. a few years ago, she visited every state attorney general’s office to better understand how and why they worked the way they did.

After joining a law firm, Kalani went on to form her own state attorneys general practice, counseling clients on business transactions, investigations and disputes with state agencies. Now she co-chairs the state attorneys general practice at Cozen O’Connor in Washington, D.C., along with Bernie Nash, who has worked with state attorneys general for 30 years and founded the country’s first state attorneys general private practice.