Attorneys

Founded in 1991 by Charles H. Bell, Jr. and Thomas W. Hiltachk, Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk has established itself as a leader in campaign finance and election law. Colleen McAndrews, a former Commissioner of the Fair Political Practices Commission, merged her prior practice with Bell & Hiltachk in 1993. Identified as one to the Top 100 “California Influencers” by Campaigns & Elections magazine, the firm is staffed by experienced specialists in their field.

Charles H. Bell, Jr.

Retired

Chuck Bell was the founding partner of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP. He has retired after practicing political and election law since 1980. He was nationally-recognized in the practice of federal and state campaign finance and election laws.

He served as general counsel to the California Republican Party from 1981 to 1993 and from 1998 to 2017. He provided legal advice and representation to three former California Governors, two Presidential candidates, numerous California state constitutional officers, Congressional, State Senate and Assembly leaders and candidates.  He also represented the Republican National Committee, the Republican National Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee in litigation and political law matters.

He was a past president of the Republican National Lawyers Association, Washington, DC, and currently serves on its Board of Advisors. He was awarded the RNLA’s Betty Murphy Award for service and leadership . He was the founding Chairman of the California Political Attorneys Association, and was the first recipient of CPAA’s Allan Tebbetts Award. He also served as a member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Election Law and currently serves on the ABA President’s Advisory Committee to its Task Force for Democracy.

He litigated cases on constitutional issues concerning campaign finance and election law in the U.S. Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court and federal and state trial and appellate courts.  He served as a national lawyers co-chairman for the Romney and McCain Presidential campaigns and state lawyers chairman for the Dole and two Bushes’ Presidential campaigns.  He served as an officer and director of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Capitol Foundation and the Sacramento Federal Judicial Library and Learning Center Foundation at the Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Library and Learning Center in Sacramento, California.  He also served as an advisor to political parties in the historic 1994 South African election.

He is a graduate of Stanford University and Stanford Law School.

Colleen C. McAndrews

Retired

Colleen was a founding partner of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP. She has retired after practicing political and election law in Southern California since 1989, initially with Simmons & McAndrews, which merged with Bell & Hiltachk in 1993. She served as a Commissioner on the Fair Political Practices Commission for six years following her appointment to the position by Governor Brown in 1977.

She served as a member of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by former Presidents Carter and Ford, which reported to the Congress and President Bush on election reform following the 2000 election and resulted in the Help America Vote Act of 2002. She also served as a member of California Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg’s 2001 Commission on initiative Reform and was Co-Chair of Secretary of State Bruce McPherson’s 2006 Task Force on Online Disclosure of Campaign Finance Statements. She currently serves on the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Elections and the Campaign Disclosure Project Advisory Board.

Colleen is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and received her law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. She served as President of the California Political Attorneys Association, 1995-1996.

Thomas W. Hiltachk

Managing Partner

Daily Journal Top 100 Lawyers in California 2017

Tom is managing partner at Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP. He has practiced political and election law exclusively since 1988. Prior to that, he was an attorney with a general civil litigation firm in Sacramento. He has served as legal counsel and treasurer to statewide and local ballot measure committees, political action committees, trade associations and candidates. He has represented state ballot measure committees on a variety of issues, including tax policy, the environment, education, civil and criminal justice reform and gaming. He has served as legal counsel to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Tom specializes in drafting complex tax and constitutional measures and counsels on qualification efforts for ballot measure campaigns as well as all aspects of election campaigning related to such measures. He litigates ballot and ballot pamphlet language issues and advises nonprofit corporations and associations on formation and tax exemption issues.

He served as an official U.S. election observer for the 1996 Russian Presidential election.

He is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento and the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. His academic achievements include membership in The Order of the Coif and Law Review editor and author. He Served as President of the California Political Attorneys Association, 2004 – 2005 and on the Board of the American Association of Political Consultants.

Brian T. Hildreth

Partner

Brian Hildreth is a partner with Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP. He specializes in advising business entities, candidates, PACs, independent expenditure committees, major campaign donors and lobbyists in the areas of political law and election law.

Brian maintains a specialty practice in campaign and elections litigation, including challenges to ballot measures, voter information pamphlets and candidate ballot designations, as well as ballot access cases, election contests and anti-SLAPP matters. He also represents clients in administrative enforcement actions before the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) and local enforcement agencies. Brian has prepared and argued numerous trial court and appellate level cases, and negotiated accepted settlements in numerous other legal and administrative enforcement matters.

Brian also advises candidates and committees in post-election matters, including legal validation of vote-by-mail ballots, verification of ballots cast by provisional voters and vote recounts.

Brian previously served as a special assistant in the Governor’s Office in Sacramento. He also formerly worked as government relations counsel for the Northrop Grumman Corporation at its headquarters in Los Angeles.

Brian received his law degree from the Tulane University School of Law where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law, and as a senior teaching fellow for the law school’s legal writing and research program. He completed law school clerkships with the California Governor’s Office of Legal Affairs and the FPPC. Brian also holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley.

Brian is the past president of the California Political Attorneys Association (CPAA). He presently serves as a board member for the Sacramento Tactical Foundation (SacTac), which is dedicated to providing law enforcement teams (SWAT, SED, K9) with specialized equipment to further ensure the safety of deputies and officers in the line of duty.

Ashlee N. Titus

Partner

Ashlee received her Juris Doctor from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, and her undergraduate degree with honors in Political Science and a minor in Philosophy from Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2003.

Ashlee joined Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP in 2004 and has been a partner since 2015. She maintains a nationwide practice advising individuals, businesses, candidates, political action committees (PACs), lobbyists, and trade associations on compliance with complex campaign finance and advertising, lobbying, and nonprofit tax exempt statutes and regulations. Ashlee also counsels clients on navigating the process of qualifying initiative, referenda and recall ballot measures at state and local levels and all aspects of such campaigns. Ashlee is a leader organizing efforts to ensure integrity and proper administration of elections in California.

Ashlee is currently president of California Political Attorneys Association.

KC Jenkins

Associate

KC joined Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP in 2011 as a political reporting specialist. In 2014, KC entered law school at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law and received her J.D. with great distinction in 2018. She graduated as valedictorian and received membership in the Order of the Coif. While in law school, she participated in moot court and completed a concentration in Capital Lawyering.

KC maintains a nationwide practice advising individuals, businesses, candidates, political action committees (PACs), lobbyists, and trade associations on compliance with complex campaign finance and advertising, lobbying, and nonprofit tax-exempt statutes and regulations.

KC received her BA in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she served on the student alumni association and spent a summer interning on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Prior to joining Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, KC served on the scheduling team on the Meg Whitman for Governor 2010 campaign. She was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2018.

Sarah Yonan

Associate

Sarah received her undergraduate degree in Political Science from California State University Stanislaus, where she was a member of the Alpha Xi Delta Women’s Fraternity and served as the Vice President of Philanthropy. She continued her education in San Diego at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where she served as Vice President of the La Raza Student Association and was a member of several other organizations. Sarah received her J.D. and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2022.

Sarah joined Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk in 2023. Before joining this firm, she was an attorney with a general civil litigation firm in Turlock, California. Sarah maintains a nationwide practice advising individuals, businesses, candidates, political action committees (PACs), lobbyists, and trade associations on compliance with complex campaign finance and advertising, lobbying, and nonprofit tax-exempt statutes and regulations. She also counsels clients on navigating the process of qualifying initiative, referenda and recall ballot measures at state and local levels and all aspects of such campaigns.

Paul T. Gough

Of Counsel

Paul has been Of Counsel to Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP since 2002 and is based in Los Angeles. Prior to joining the firm, he was a partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Straw & Gough where he had a litigation and appellate practice representing clients in business, environmental, political and entertainment matters. From 1978 to 1987, Paul was the Litigation Manager for the Western Region of Mobil Oil Corporation which included California and 6 other western states. In that position he was responsible for overseeing the defense and prosecution of all Mobil Oil Corporation litigation and appeals in the entire region.

He has over 30 years of litigation experience including cases involving the Political Reform Act, initiative and referendum, voter registration, ballot arguments, and Propositions 13, 218 and 62. Paul is currently representing the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in a case pending in the Second District Court of Appeal challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 13. Paul has represented clients in numerous state and federal appeals including reported decisions involving the Political Reform Act, FOIA, CEQA and Proposition 62.

Paul is admitted to practice in California, all United States District Courts in the State of California and the Ninth Circuit. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and received his Juris Doctor from Case Western Reserve University Law School where he was a member of the Law Review.

Robert W. Naylor

Of Counsel

Bob Naylor is Of Counsel to Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP. Bob has been active in politics and government since the time he was editor of the Stanford Daily in 1964. A native of Nevada, Bob graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University in 1966 and later from Yale Law School. He served as Lieutenant in the United States Army, including service in Vietnam.

Bob was elected to the California State Legislature in 1978 and for eight years represented the state’s 20th Assembly District, which included the Southern half of San Mateo County. In 1982, Bob was elected Assembly Republican Leader, a post he retained for three years.

Prior to his election to the California Legislature, Bob was an attorney, specializing in tax and political reform law, at Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro in San Francisco. After leaving the California State Assembly, Bob became Chairman of the California Republican Party in 1987, serving for two years through the election and inauguration of George H.W. Bush as President. Bob was appointed by President Bush to the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation, Chaired by Senator Ted Kennedy, serving from 1991 to 1995. He also served as Chairman of the Association for California Tort Reform, is Vice Chair of the Stanford Mansion Foundation, was a member of the National Advisory Board for the Institute for Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, and was a founding director of Calnet Business Bank in Sacramento. Bob has been delegate to ten Republican National Conventions.

For 24 years, Bob was a partner at the law firm of Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor, specializing in government law. Recently, Bob launched his own firm, Robert W. Naylor Advocacy, and became Of Counsel to Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP.

Sarah Lang

Of Counsel

Sarah Lang maintains a nationwide practice counseling public officials and government contractors on ethics and conflict of interest provisions of Government Code section 1090 and the California Political Reform Act, which also covers the review and preparation of Statements of Economic Interests (Form 700). Sarah’s practice area incorporates formation and ongoing maintenance of tax-exempt organizations (nonprofits) at the state and federal levels. Sarah also advises corporations, lobbyists, placement agents, candidates, political parties, political action committees (PACs), major campaign donors, nonprofit organizations, and state and local ballot measure committees in the areas of political and election law.

Sarah previously served as a Political Reform Consultant with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, specializing in conflict of interest regulations, Statements of Economic Interests, and campaign reporting requirements. Her duties included delivering statewide compliance training and advice to candidates, local elections officials, lobbyists, governmental agencies, and foreign delegations.

Sarah earned her Juris Doctor degree with distinction from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, completing concentrations in both business law and tax law. Sarah graduated Summa cum Laude from William Jessup University with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy, completing a concentration in economics and management. Sarah is a member of the California State Bar and the District of Columbia Bar.

AWARDS

2017

  • Daily Journal 2017 “Top 100 Lawyers” in California – Tom Hiltachk
  • Sacramento Magazine 2017 Top Lawyers – Tom Hiltachk
  • Sacramento Magazine 2017 Top Lawyers – Ashlee Titus
  • Super Lawyers – Charles H Bell Jr

2016

  • Clay Award – California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (Real Estate & Development – Hollywood Park Land Company matter, NFL Stadium) – Tom Hiltachk
  • Clay Award – California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (Real Estate & Development – Hollywood Park Land Company matter, NFL Stadium) – Ashlee Titus

2014

  • Super Lawyers Rising Stars – Audrey Perry Martin

2013

  • Super Lawyers – Charles H Bell Jr

2010

  • Super Lawyers – Charles H Bell Jr
Taitz v. Dunn, Cal.App.4th, G045351, WL 1511747 Nonpublished/Nonciteable, (Cal. Rules of Court, Rules 976, 977) (Cal.App 4 Dist. 2012) (Counsel for Defendant Damon Dunn)

Securities and Exchange Commission Plays Campaign Finance Watchdog

While the courts are de-regulating campaign finance, other branches of government are searching for ways to clamp down. At the national level, the Securities and Exchange Commission has targeted individuals and entities that provide investment advisory services to government pension systems.

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