Husch Blackwell is pleased to announce that Russell Orban joined the firm's Washington, D.C., office as Of Counsel. He concentrates his work in the areas of Governmental Affairs and Government Contracts law. Orban brings more than 30 years of experience advising members of U.S. Congress, House committees and federal agencies on public policy, legal and operational matters.
Prior to joining the firm, Orban acted as General Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Small Business (2004-2011), where he oversaw Congressional hearings and investigations related to federal small business assistance programs, which control about $100 billion per year in federal expenditures. Prior to that, he worked for the Office of the Chief Counsel for Advocacy, Small Business Administration as Assistant Chief Counsel (1994-2004). While there, he prepared office positions on all legislative and regulatory tax policy issues and often prepared Congressional testimony and appeared before federal agencies. Orban previously served as the Chief of Staff for U.S. Representative Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) (1993-1995)
Before joining Rep. Lincoln's office, Orban worked for the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Small Business as a Subcommittee Staff Director (1984-1993), during which time he managed three subcommittee staffs and oversaw all aspects of the small business procurement policy that controlled approximately $32 billion of federal government acquisitions. He led Small Business Committee oversight of the Regulatory Flexibility Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act implementation and authored the Congressional five-year report on the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Orban served as a Legislative Assistant for U.S. Representative Ike Skelton (D-Missouri) (1978-1983) after four years in private practice in Kansas City, Mo., and Tulsa, Okla. (1974-1978). He also clerked for The Hon. William J. Peters of the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Jackson County, Mo., during that time (1977-1978).
Orban received his LL.M. from the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Law (1978) and his J.D. from the University of Tulsa College of Law (1976). He received his B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Kansas (1973).