You want your message to get out, on budget and without unpleasant regulatory surprises. Venable can help make that happen.

We have one of the foremost postal practices in the United States. The two chairs of our practice have nearly 60 years of experience in postal law between them. Our team is knowledgeable about every major issue a mailer is likely to face, in every major class of mail.

Our clients account for the majority of mail volume in the United States. Among them are Fortune 100 companies, smaller businesses, postal trade associations and nonprofit organizations.

We make sense of the maze of rules.

The better you can navigate the postal rules, the better you can minimize your postal costs and avoid costly extra charges weeks or months after your mailings go out. We can help. Drawing on our decades of experience, we provide guidance in:

• Move Update requirements;
• content and preparation requirements for First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, Periodicals Mail, Parcel and Media Mail, and Nonprofit Mail;
• requirements for presort discounts and other worksharing discounts;
• Negotiated Service Agreements;
• licensing intellectual property from the Postal Service;
• selling goods or services to the Postal Service;
• buying or selling a publisher, catalog mailer, printer, mail house, or mail services supplier; and
• resolving conflicts between postal regulations and other laws, such as privacy laws.

When the Postal Inspector comes knocking.

Sometimes a mailer finds itself the target of an investigation or enforcement action. When that happens, Venable is prepared to respond. We represent mailers in investigations and enforcement actions by the Postal Service, the Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Department of Justice.

We will help you design and execute the best response, whether litigation, settlement or self-reporting. We advocate for mailers with:

• adverse eligibility rulings;
• False Claims Act investigations and litigation, including qui tam lawsuits;
• internal investigations of compliance with postal eligibility requirements;
• permit revocations;
• Postal Inspection Service investigations and subpoenas; and
• revenue deficiencies.

Advocates for the industry.

The lawyers in our postal practice are advocates not only for our clients but also for the industry. We routinely represent leading postal trade associations and major mailers in issues of industry-wide concern.

Our advocacy includes appearances before the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Postal Service, Congress and the federal appellate courts. We have represented clients in every major rate case before the Postal Rate Commission and the Postal Regulatory Commission since the late 1970s.

In all of our work for our postal clients, we rely not only on our own understanding of postal law, but also on Venable's deep knowledge in related areas. We draw support from attorneys who concentrate in administrative law, advertising and marketing law, antitrust and trade regulation, appellate litigation, criminal law, employment law, False Claims Act cases, insurance law, legislative advocacy, nonprofit organizations and taxation.

Our foremost goal is to help our clients distribute their messages to customers and consumers.