Englander & Associates became Englander Knabe & Allen at the outset of 2010, the name change recognizing the increasingly critical role played by partners Matt Knabe, a former deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, and Marcus Allen, who was deputy chief of staff to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who had worked alongside founder and chief executive Harvey Englander—a fixture on the California political and business scenes for about four decades and advisor to elected officials and CEOs—in building the firm into a market leader in the five years since its launch.

In 2010, EK&A followed that restructuring with the acquisition of local boutique The Cherin Group and the appointment of its principal, Alex Cherin, as senior vice president of head of its clean technology and transportation groups. The firm also added Juan Garza, most recently a key Southern California manager at disposal company Republic Services, and Tina Choi, who manages the firm’s land-use/development consulting division.

EK&A has flourished in difficult times by bringing together all the elements necessary to create winning campaigns for its clients. The firm’s roots are in political campaigning, a background that shapes its approach to public relations. So research and analysis are important, but so is speed, and Englander moves quickly from research to form a hypothesis, test strategies, revise and implement them. It also ensures that partners lead every account; in fact, the firm has only partners and senior VPs, with no account executives or other junior personnel. Capabilities include advocacy and government relations, crisis communications, issues campaigns, community relations, media relations, media training, and a litigation support specialty that works with many of the west coast’s leading law firms.

The firm also works with a roster of clients that includes Westfield, Motorola, Downey Hospital, LegalZoom, Juniper Networks, Enterprise, AT&T and the Los Angeles Police Protective League, Affiliated Computer Services, LAZ Parking, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. Interesting work ranged from helping a client deal with litigation and legislative challenged after a consumer advocacy group filed a lawsuit regarding legal documents posted online to protecting the brand of a golf-related client after a civil suit leveled discrimination charges. EK&A also helped a major grocery chain prepare for and manage potential negative fall-out in connection with a new contract.