Organizations spent almost $822 million lobbying the federal government in the first quarter of the year, with one company paying over $1 million to a single lobbying firm.  

Sixteen companies or associations paid an outside lobbying firm more than $100,000 a month during the first quarter.  

The Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd  paid $1,0020,000 to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP for lobbying. Akin Gump also pulled in another large fee from the Gila River Indian Community , which paid the lobbying firm $880,000 in the first quarter. The Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform  paid the firm $340,000. The Pipeline Contractors Association  paid the firm $310,000 during the quarter.  

Akin Gump reported  Samsung paid for nine lobbyists working on Copyrights/Patents/Trademarks issues, such as IP policy, including patent pools and SEPs. They also lobbied on technology in education issues, and telecommunications infrastructure issues.  

Other large payments for lobbying included Covington & Burling LLP receiving $690,000 from Qualcomm Inc . Dickstein Shapiro LLP received $500,000 from Lorillard Tobacco Company . McGuiness & Yager LLP received $490,000 from HR Policy Association . Pricewaterhousecoopers LLP was paid $420,000 by the TRGroup d/b/a Alliance for Competitive Taxation . Allegiance Strategies LLC received $400,000 from the Policy & Taxation Group .  

Other lobbying firms being paid more than $100,000 a month during the first quarter include Patton Boggs LLP receiving $360,000 from Amazon Corporate LLC . The Carmen Group was paid $360,000 by Softbank Corporation . Venn Strategies LLC was paid $320,000 by theEmployee-Owned S Corps of America . K&L Gates received $320,000 from Verisign Inc . K&L Gates also received $300,000 from theRadian Group  for lobbying. Alcalde & Fay was paid $300,000 by Cruise Lines International Association . Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC was paid $300,000 by the Toshiba Corporation.