Lawyers for Political Leaders
Our clients are candidates and elected officials, corporations, their PACs and lobbyists, political party committees, Super PACs and nonprofit organizations and networks. They rely on our legal guidance to help them win elections, shape public opinion, build coalitions and shape law, regulation and policy.
Chris Ashby, Partner
Chris Ashby is a lawyer, former political speechwriter and veteran campaign operative. He combines in-depth legal knowledge and sound political judgment to help his clients navigate a complex, multi-layered and ever-changing maze of federal, state and local laws and regulations governing participation in the political process.
Chris received his undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond in 1996, and is a 2001 graduate, cum laude, of the University of Richmond’s T.C. Williams School of Law. He studied political activity law in the Masters of Law program at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.
During his legal career, Chris has represented Fortune 100 and 500 corporations, advised several presidential campaigns and counseled senatorial and congressional candidates, statewide campaigns and politically active non-profit organizations. He has defended elected officials and campaign consultants in high-stakes political investigations, is one of the country’s most experienced recount lawyers and represented one of the largest Super PACs in the 2015-2016 federal election cycle. He also is pioneering the use of LLCs and other for-profit corporate forms for political purposes.
In 2017, Washingtonian listed Chris as a “top lawyer” for campaign and election law. Washington, D.C. and Virginia Super Lawyers magazines have identified Chris as a “rising star” in the practice of governmental (2007) and political law (2008-2015). The American Spectator has reported that he is “one of the best in the country for this kind of thing.”
Rebekah M. Marino, Partner
Rebekah Marino represents non-profit organizations, campaigns, and political committees on campaign finance, lobbying and government ethics matters at the federal, state and local levels.
Prior to joining First Street, Rebekah was General Counsel to a multi-million dollar state-based non-profit network, where she helped organizational leaders make strategic decisions about political and business law issues in a complex, multi-jurisdictional environment.
Rebekah is a former Counsel at the Federal Election Commission. In that capacity, she advised the Republican Commissioners on enforcement matters, advisory opinions, and rulemakings. She also is a former law clerk at the Republican National Committee and the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami, Florida. Before law school, Rebekah worked in the Election Law Practice Group of a Washington, DC-based law firm and for her Congressman on Capitol Hill. She also lived in Spain for a year, working at a language school. Rebekah speaks Spanish.
Rebekah graduated, summa cum laude, from New Mexico State University and received her juris doctorate degree, cum laude, from The College of William & Mary, School of Law.
Justin Riemer, Partner
Justin Riemer has practiced for years at the highest levels of election law and national politics—first as an attorney for Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, then as an election administrator in a presidential battleground state, and most recently as the Republican National Committee’s Chief Counsel from 2018 to 2022.
Over the course of that career, Justin has represented and advised clients and high-ranking Republican officials on political law matters, including the President of the United States, the Chair of the Republican National Committee, Governors, Members of Congress and state legislators. His experience spans the spectrum of political law issues, including ballot access, campaign finance strategy and compliance, internal political party governance, party-run caucuses, recounts and close elections, election integrity issues, public records requests, voting litigation and political technology.
Having been actively engaged as an attorney in every national election since 2008—either as a campaign attorney, a party committee attorney or an election administrator—Justin has a unique and intricate understanding of how campaigns and elections are run and won. He has written and presented extensively on election law matters, including before the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, the Committee on House Administration and the Virginia General Assembly. He has been quoted in publications including The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times and National Review.
Justin is admitted to practice law in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. He graduated from Gettysburg College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Religion and received his law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law. In 2021, Justin received the Republican National Lawyers Association’s Robert J. Horn Chairman’s Award for nationally distinguished service in support of the honesty and accuracy of elections.
Kate Teasdale, Counsel
Kate Teasdale is an attorney with broad professional experience representing corporations, candidates, PACs and political party committees with a focus on campaign finance law compliance and daily operational matters. Since 2006, Kate has served as counsel to state party committees, treasurer for multiple candidate and political action committees, and as Co-General Counsel and Treasurer to a presidential campaign.
Kate graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science and earned her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin.
Prior to joining First Street, Kate formed and ran Aspect Consulting, a firm that provides a wide range of campaign finance compliance, reporting and operations consulting services to federal and state political committees around the country. She is also a founding member of and legal counsel to Forte Services, which provides professional fundraising, planning and executive services for high profile corporate and political events.
Bill Duffin, Associate
Bill is an associate at First Street. He provides federal and state campaign finance and election law guidance to corporations, lobbyists, candidates, PACs and political non-profit organizations.
Bill graduated magna cum laude, from New York University with a B.A. in History and Politics. He earned his J.D. from the George Washington University Law School.
Before joining First Street, Bill worked as a legal intern at Belluck & Fox, LLP in New York City. He also worked at federal agencies in the Government Information Law Division at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Office of Personnel Management, the Office of the Inspector General and the Federal Public Defenders Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division.
Kaitlin Murphy, Executive Director
Kaitlin Murphy is First Street’s Executive Director. In that capacity, she tracks political giving and lobbying spending by our clients and their competitors, oversees the firm’s preclearance process for political contributions and independent expenditures, drives our thought leadership efforts and manages other special projects on behalf of the firm and our clients.
Before joining First Street, Kaitlin co-founded FPPCO, an impact investment advisory company that uses data-based metrics to maximize investments in political reform. Prior to that, she was a member of the communications team at Americans Elect, Chief of Staff to the development team at Fund for the Republic, and a project management consultant with The Webster Group with responsibility for the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation and Chesapeake Crescent Initiative.
Kaitlin graduated from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York with a B.A. in Art History, and has an International Masters Degree in Art Crimes and Cultural Heritage Preservation.
Maria Benincasa, Executive Assistant
Maria Benincasa is First Street’s Executive Assistant and is the main point of contact for all incoming matters to the firm. As executive assistant, Maria works with the managing partner to prioritize firm projects and distributes new work to other team members. In her broader role, Maria manages scheduling for the firm, client communications, and internal workflow tracking. She provides daily administrative support to Chris Ashby and oversees long-term organizational projects.
Before joining the firm, Maria worked as the Executive Assistant to the President at the American Foreign Service Association, the professional association and labor union for the U.S. Foreign Service.
Maria is a graduate of James Madison University with a B.A. in International Affairs and a minor in Economics.
