About

Barry brokaw, founding partner

The year 2023 marks 50 years for Barry Brokaw as a legislative chief of staff, committee consultant and lobbyist. Cited numerous times as one of the state’s 100 most influential players by Capitol Weekly, singled out as "one of the savviest operators inside the (State Capitol) building" by the California Political Almanac and recognized for his “immense political clout” by the by the L.A. Daily News, Barry is recognized by his peers and decision-makers across the state government as a consummate professional and problem solver. 

Over his extensive career, he has provided personal representation for wide ranging interests, including the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Microsoft, Walmart, Kraft Foods, the American Red Cross, the National Football League, the Association of Talent Agents, the California Academy of Audiology, and Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, among many other clients of the firm.

Barry began his career in the State Capitol as a 22-year-old assistant consultant to the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee, before going to work for Assemblyman and later Senator, Dan Boatwright, a Democrat from Contra Costa County.  For nearly 18 years, Barry served as a committee consultant and chief of staff for Boatwright, eventually overseeing the operations of the Revenue and Taxation Committees in both houses of the Legislature; the Assembly Ways and Means Committee; the Senate Appropriations Committee; Senate Budget Subcommittees and the Senate Business and Professions Committee. 

Barry Brokaw is a native of Los Angeles, and worked his way through college, graduating cum laude from California State University, Northridge with a B.A. in Political Science. He earned an M.A. Degree in Government from California State University, Sacramento. He was introduced to state government by a college professor, former Assembly Speaker, and later, State Treasurer, Jesse M. Unruh, on whose staff he served. Throughout the 1990's Barry Brokaw was Vice-Chairman and Public Policy Committee Chairman on the Board of Directors of the national Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Alliance. 

He is married to Karen Zeller Brokaw and they have two children, political consultant Brian Brokaw and Nick Brokaw, a lawyer and partner at the firm.