Hunton & Williams

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Hunton & Williams LLP
Headquarters United States Richmond, VA
No. of offices 19
No. of attorneys more than 800
Major practice areas General practice
Date founded 1901
Company type Limited liability partnership
Website
www.hunton.com

Founded in 1901, Hunton & Williams LLP is a US law firm that employs more than 800 lawyers. It has been called "one of the most well-connected legal and lobbying firms in DC."[1] The firm was founded in Richmond, Virginia and has 18 other offices throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. In early 2011 the firm's controversial work for Bank of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce became public through a large disclosure of emails.[1]

History

The firm was founded in 1901 in Richmond, Virginia by Henry W. Anderson, Eppa Hunton Jr., Beverley Munford, and 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.

Current operations

The firm has achieved a national reputation as a pro bono leader among large law firms and is frequently referred to as a model example of a pro bono-cultured firm at national conferences.[citation needed]

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.

Awards for labor outsourcing and offshoring

In addition, the firm 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."[2] 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.[3]

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.

Bank of America and WikiLeaks

Circa 2010-2011, Hunton & Williams was allegedly referred to Bank of America (by the DOJ) for advice on how to deal with the upcoming wikileaks dump of the bank's internal documents. Hunton & Williams allegedly helped get three private companies, Berico Technologies, Palantir Technologies, and HBGary Federal to come up with a response plan. The plan was allegedly later revealed when Anonymous hacked into HBGary and dumped their internal documents on the web.[4][5][6][7]

The plan created a controversy for many reasons, including the allegation that it included suggestions to harm the career of salon.com journalist and lawyer Glenn Greenwald and "disrupt" his support for Wikileaks.[8] On 1 March 2011, 17 members of the United States congress called for a congressional investigation for possible violation of federal law by Hunton & Williams.[9]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Greenwald, Glenn (February 15, 2011). "More facts emerge about the leaked smear campaigns". Salon.com. Retrieved 2011-02-15. 
  2. ↑ Practices:Global Outsourcing, Global Outsourcing, Hunton & Williams, retrieved February 11, 2013
  3. ↑ Practices:Global Outsourcing, Global Outsourcing, Hunton & Williams, retrieved February 11, 2013
  4. ↑ Jerome Taylor (February 8, 2011). "Hacktivists take control of internet security firms". The Independent (UK). Retrieved 2011-02-11. 
  5. ↑ Joseph Minn (February 7, 2011). "'Hacktivists' retaliate against security expert". Financial Times. Retrieved 2011-02-11. 
  6. ↑ Nate Anderson (February 11, 2011). "(Virtually) face to face: how Aaron Barr revealed himself to Anonymous". arstechnica.com. Retrieved 2011-02-11. 
  7. ↑ Parmy Olson (February 6, 2011). "Anonymous Takes Revenge On Security Firm For Trying To Sell Supporters' Details To FBI". Forbes. Retrieved 2011-02-11. 
  8. ↑ Lauerman, Kerry (2011-02-11) A disturbing threat against one of our own, Salon.com
  9. ↑ Justin Elliott (March 1, 2011). "Democrats call for probe of top D.C. law firm". salon.com. 

External links

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