The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission (LACEC) provides detailed lobbyist disclosure reports for in-house lobbyists and lobbying firms registered with the City of Los Angeles. The amount of detail is impressive but sometimes having a birds-eye view of the data is also helpful. The tables below show the top ten lobbying firms by amount of payments received from clients between January 2007 and December 2009. For more information about the influence of money in Los Angeles city politics, see the Center for Governmental Studies report titled Money and Power in the City of Angels.
Top Ten Lobbying Firms by Lobbying Client Payments, 2007-2009
| Firm Name | Lobbying Client Payments | Campaign Contributions | Fundraising Activity and Solitications |
| Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro LLP | $9,191,884 | $8,000 | $40,400 |
| Craig Lawson & Co., LLC | $6,978,635 | $500 | $21,500 |
| Latham & Watkins LLP | $6,775,876 | $0 | $0 |
| Cerrell Associates Inc | $6,392,797 | $47,600 | $154,650 |
| Ek & Ek | $4,619,280 | $0 | $14,500 |
| Consensus Inc. | $3,886,050 | $0 | $0 |
| Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP | $3,821,442 | $0 | $0 |
| Armbruster Goldsmith & Delvac, LLP | $3,423,664 | $0 | $0 |
| Arnie Berghoff & Associates | $3,108,538 | $0 | $167,750 |
| Rose & Kindel | $3,021,473 | $130,000 | $15,850 |
Top Five Lobbying Clients from the Top Ten Lobbying Firms, 2007-2009
| Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP | Total Amount |
| Patriot Homes a/k/a DS Ventures, LLC | $426,056 |
| Cen Fed, Ltd. | $386,860 |
| Millennium Partners | $370,849 |
| Chinatown Ventures LLC c/o Bond Capital LTD | $364,480 |
| Ready Golf Centers | $274,959 |
| Armbruster Goldsmith & Delvac, LLP | Total Amount |
| Thomas Properties Group | $569,960 |
| Genton Barth Real Estate Group, LLC | $312,034 |
| Next Century Associates, LLC | $304,952 |
| BRE Properties, Inc. | $197,512 |
| Occidental College | $183,972 |
| Arnie Berghoff & Assoc | Total Amount |
| Hotel Association of Los Angeles | $351,000 |
| BNSF Railway Company | $301,163 |
| Cisco Systems Inc | $288,704 |
| SERCO, Inc. | $252,700 |
| BFI | $195,375 |
| Cerrell Assoc Inc | Total Amount |
| WCE Genton Associates | $628,151 |
| Plasco Energy Corp | $415,544 |
| Loyola Marymount University | $401,731 |
| Time Warner Communications | $388,046 |
| Fifteen Group, LLC | $363,318 |
| Consensus Inc. | Total Amount |
| Home Depot | $890,737 |
| Westfield, LLC | $627,790 |
| Trammell Crow Company | $455,057 |
| Fifteen Group, LLC | $374,497 |
| Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway | $372,634 |
| Craig Lawson & Co., LLC | Total Amount |
| The Hanover Company | $568,988 |
| Gerding/Edlen Development Company, LLC | $359,205 |
| Bevcon I, LLC | $247,447 |
| Holland Partners | $211,483 |
| Emerson College | $202,240 |
| Ek & Ek | Total Amount |
| CH2MHILL | $345,000 |
| HMS Host | $292,500 |
| Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. | $245,000 |
| Urbaser | $234,982 |
| McDonalds Corporation | $215,000 |
| Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro LLP | Total Amount |
| The Clarett Group | $1,106,837 |
| G.H. Palmer Associates | $684,191 |
| Decron Management Corp | $449,336 |
| New Tower Trust Company | $353,365 |
| Ronald A. Simms Commercial Development and Montel Associates LP | $327,714 |
| Latham & Watkins LLP | Total Amount |
| NBC Universal | $975,144 |
| Westfield, LLC | $940,606 |
| The Home Depot | $532,904 |
| The Buckley School | $367,184 |
| Playa Capital Co., LLC | $329,695 |
| Rose & Kindel | Total Amount |
| Porter Novelli on behalf of American Chemistry Council | $474,949 |
| Veolia Transportation, Inc. | $301,881 |
| Sonic Automotive, Inc. | $202,618 |
| Maguire Aviation Group, LLC | $182,766 |
| Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. | $160,075 |