Harvard Ends Decadeslong Retainer With Lobbying Firm

Harvard has ended its decadeslong relationship with O’Neill Athy and Casey, a boutique Washington, D.C. lobbying firm that had represented the University since at least 1999, according to a disclosure filed Monday.

The firm’s two other clients listed on its website, iHeartMedia and JM Family Enterprises, also ended their retainers, federal disclosures show. Three additional clients — Cape Cod Healthcare, Mass General Brigham, and the American Hospital Association — ended their relationships with the firm in the last quarter of 2025. Together, the departures indicate that the firm may be winding down its operations.

The firm reported that its work for Harvard ended effective June 30. The disclosures do not indicate whether the firm or its clients initiated the terminations. O’Neill Athy and Casey has not publicly announced that it is closing and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Harvard spokesperson also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Harvard paid the firm $30,000 in the first quarter of 2026, in line with its quarterly payments in previous years. Harvard paid the firm $120,000 in 2024 and $110,000 in 2025.

During the first quarter, the firm primarily lobbied on federal research funding and congressional oversight, including reimbursement for research costs and fiscal year 2026 appropriations supporting research and higher education.

The split ends one of Harvard’s longest-running outside lobbying relationships even as the University has dramatically expanded its broader influence operation in Washington.

Harvard began searching for an additional outside lobbying firm following former University president Claudine Gay’s disastrous December 2023 congressional testimony on campus antisemitism. Her widely criticized appearance fueled attacks against Harvard and underscored the University’s limited relationship within the Republican Party.

Days before U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, Harvard hired Ballard Partners, a firm with deep ties to Trump’s inner circle.

Brian D. Ballard, the firm’s founder, served as the Florida finance chair for Trump’s 2016 campaign and as vice chair of his presidential inaugural committee. Daniel McFaul, the other lobbyist assigned to Harvard’s case, served on Trump’s 2016 presidential transition team and as chief of staff to former U.S. Reps. Jeff Miller (R.-Fla.) and Matt Gaetz (R.-Fla.).

The move came as Harvard braced for a second Trump administration. Soon after Trump took office, the White House froze billions of dollars in federal research funding to Harvard, sought to block the University from enrolling international students, and launched multiple investigations into its operations.

Harvard spent nearly $1 million on federal lobbying in 2025, its highest annual total in more than two decades. Harvard also saw its legal fees skyrocket in fiscal year 2025, reporting $126.6 million in legal fees in a tax filing posted in May. The number marked a 58 percent increase from the previous year, when the University spent roughly $80 million. Before fiscal year 2024, Harvard’s legal expenses had hovered around $20 million.

Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 has met with more than 170 members of Congress since April 2025, a pace far beyond that of previous Harvard presidents. The University has also assembled a roster of more than a dozen law firms in Washington to represent it in federal litigation and advise it on regulatory and other legal matters.

But the expanded campaign has not insulated Harvard from federal pressure. The University remains subject to at least 10 federal investigations and is pursuing legal challenges involving 12 federal agencies. Harvard is also preparing for an 8 percent tax on its investment income, which is expected to cost the University roughly $200 million annually.

The rising costs of Harvard’s federal advocacy come during a period of broader strain. The University reported a deficit of $113 million in fiscal year 2025, its first since the pandemic.

Clarification: July 22, 2026

This article has been updated to clarify that Harvard’s outside law firms advise on litigation and other legal matters.

—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at mblon.50. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.

—Staff writer Graham W. Lee can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @grahamwonlee.