Hunton & Williams

Hunton & Williams LLP
Headquarters Riverfront Plaza
951 East Byrd Street
Richmond, VA
United States
No. of offices 19
No. of attorneys more than 750
Major practice areas General practice
Revenue Increase US$ 568 million (2014)[1]
Date founded 1901
Company type Limited liability partnership
Website hunton.com

Founded in 1901, Hunton & Williams LLP is a US law firm that employs more than 750 attorneys. The firm was founded in Richmond, Virginia and has 18 other offices throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

On February 21, 2018, it was announced that partners at Andrews Kurth Kenyon and Hunton & Williams have agreed to merge their firms and operate as Hunton Andrews Kurth, a 1,000-lawyer firm with offices in 15 US cities and another five located outside the United States, effective April 2, 2018.[2][3]

On March 19, 2018, the firm announced the April 2 opening of a Boston office with 14 lawyers from national litigation boutique Manion Gaynor & Manning LLP.[4]

History

The firm was founded in 1901 in Richmond, Virginia by Henry W. Anderson, Eppa Hunton Jr., Beverley Munford, and Edmund Randolph Williams as Munford, Hunton, Williams & Anderson. It focused primarily on litigation, business and finance law.

The firm has changed names over the years; its seventh name, in 1976, was Hunton & Williams; it became Hunton & Williams LLP in 2003. The firm's most notable member, a name partner from 1954 until 1972, was Lewis F. Powell Jr., who became a member of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971.

The firm's initial hire of a woman was Elizabeth Tompkins, the first woman graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, who worked as a summer clerk at Hunton & Williams in 1921 and 1922. In 1943, during the Second World War, two women lawyers were hired to work at Hunton & Williams: Sarah Geer Dale and Nan Ross McConnell. Dale's first case involved a labor-law issue for Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock. She left the firm in 1945 to get married and retired from the practice of law. McConnell stayed on until 1948, when she married.

Offices

The firm has offices in nineteen cities across the globe.

Operations

Hunton & Williams lays claim to be the first law firm in the United States to open an office solely for the practice of law pro bono.

The firm has a Centre for Information Policy Leadership, which focuses on privacy and data protection work.

The managing partner, Walfrido J. "Wally" Martinez, has held that position since March 2006.

Controversies

Hunton Andrews Kurth, when operating as Hunton and Williams, employed William "Bill" Wehrum as a partner. Wehrum, who as a Hunton attorney represented oil and gas corporations, left his partner role when he was appointed to a top position in the Trump Administration Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Wehrum's confirmation hearings resulted in controversy, when Wehrum professed ignorance of established fact and water chemistry. (When asked "Are you familiar with the increasing acidity of the ocean?", Wehrum said this was merely an 'allegation'). [5] Wehrum's answers at the confirmation hearing attracted critical coverage.[6] Wehrum was confirmed by a party-line vote [7] and moved from Hunton to the EPA, where he has been described as "delivering for ex-clients".[8] Wehrum's private meetings with oil and gas industry ex-clients, many from his time working at Hunton, have attracted criticism "despite federal ethics rules intended to limit such interactions." [9]

Awards

For labor outsourcing and offshoring

Hunton & Williams has over 40 lawyers regularly allocated to working for the outsourcing industry, utilizing resources from the network of 800 other lawyers in the firm and prides themselves as having "over the past two decades, our attorneys have executed hundreds of outsourcing transactions worldwide valued at billions of dollars."[10] In acknowledgement of the law firms efforts, Hunton & Williams was listed by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) as one of the "2012 World's Best Outsourcing Advisors", who "navigate" and arrange the organization of those businesses overseas for clients.[10]

In addition, the practice was ranked the #1 and #3 Outsourcing and Offshoring Legal Advisor in Brown & Wilson's Black Book of Outsourcing for the years 2008 and 2009.

Top Ten Family Friendly Firm

In 2015, Hunton & Williams was included in Yale Law Women's list of "Top Ten Family Friendly Firms" for the fourth straight year, which honors leading law firms for their strong commitment to women's programs and family friendly practices.[11] The firm has been included on this list six out of the seven times it has been published.

Former staff

Lawyers who have been employed by Hunton & Williams include:[12]

References

  1. ↑ The American Lawyer Firm Profiles: Hunton & Williams. Americanlawyer.com (2015-01-01). Retrieved on 2015-8-23.
  2. ↑ "Hunton & Williams and Andrews Kurth Kenyon Vote to Combine Firms". Hunton & Williams LLP. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
  3. ↑ Times-Dispatch, JOHN REID BLACKWELL Richmond. "Hunton & Williams law firm to merge with Texas firm, creating a top 50 practice". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
  4. ↑ "Hunton & Williams Continues National Growth, Opening New Boston Office with 14-Lawyer Commercial Litigation Team". Hunton & Williams LLP. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  5. ↑ https://theintercept.com/2017/10/06/watch-a-top-epa-nominee-embarrass-himself-with-feigned-ignorance-of-basic-facts/
  6. ↑ https://theintercept.com/2017/10/06/watch-a-top-epa-nominee-embarrass-himself-with-feigned-ignorance-of-basic-facts/
  7. ↑ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/senate-approves-bill-wehrum-to-lead-epas-air-office-dealing-with-climate-change-regulations
  8. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/us/politics/epa-coal-emissions-standards-william-wehrum.html
  9. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/us/politics/epa-coal-emissions-standards-william-wehrum.html
  10. 1 2 Practices:Global Outsourcing, Global Outsourcing, Hunton & Williams, retrieved February 11, 2013
  11. ↑ https://www.hunton.com/yale_law_women_honors_hunton_williams_as_top_10_family_friendly_firm/
  12. ↑ https://www.hunton.com/history/
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