The Raben Group

Joel Wiginton is a principal in The Raben Group’s Government Affairs and Policy Counsel practice area. With 25 years of experience advocating and providing strategic advice on a global, federal, and state level, Joel is a trusted legal, policy, and political advisor to the firm’s nonprofit, foundation, and corporate clients.

Prior to joining Raben, Joel taught social justice-focused legislative lawyering and public policy in Georgetown University Law School’s Federal Legislation Clinic and supervised law students who served as legal advisors for nonprofit advocacy organizations focused on racial equity, immigration reform, environmental justice, disability rights, and LGBTQ issues. Before teaching at Georgetown Law, he spent nearly two decades heading government relations and serving as a senior counsel for global technology and entertainment companies, including Sony Corporation of America, Samsung Electronics, and Cognizant Technology Solutions. Joel directed international, federal, and state legislative, regulatory, and political affairs for these corporations and served as their chief representative before the U.S. and many foreign governments. Before moving to the private sector, he served as special assistant for Legislative Affairs in the Clinton White House and functioned as the White House’s primary legislative liaison to the Senate Judiciary, Commerce, Banking, and Small Business Committees. Joel was also chief counsel for the Constitution Subcommittee and Counsel for the Administrative Oversight & the Courts Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. In his government positions, he oversaw civil rights, constitutional, immigration, criminal justice, reproductive rights, consumer protection, and many corporate matters, including technology, privacy, intellectual property, financial services, and economic development. Joel has also been an adjunct professor of Legal Writing & Research at George Washington University Law School and practiced law at major firms in Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis, Minn.

Joel is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and Macalester College.