Alan Shaw, president and CEO of Norfolk Southern Corp., speaks during a Senate hearing in Washington, D.C., on March 9, 2023. Seated behind Shaw, from left to right, are Joel Green and Alyssa DaCunha, co-chairs of Wilmer’s congressional investigations practice. Credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg
In the days and weeks before a CEO or top executive gets grilled at a congressional hearing, they often face a “murder board,” a simulated version of the event that law firms staff with lobbyists, consultants and lawyers to grill executives before their real appearance.
Such simulated hearings are common at a small cadre of Big Law firms that routinely advise chief executives before their appearances on Capitol Hill. Those firms include Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, Hogan Lovells, Covington & Burling, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
