Hunton & Williams

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Hunton & Williams LLP
Hunton & Williams
Headquarters Flag of the United States.svg Richmond, VA
No. of Offices 18
No. of Attorneys nearly 1,000
Major Practice Areas General practice
Revenue Green Arrow Up.svg $475 mln USD (2006)[citation needed]
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 nearly 1,000 lawyers. The firm was founded in Richmond, Virginia and has 17 other offices throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. The firm expanded in Texas in the Spring of 2007 through adding a group of almost 100 lawyers from the now-defunct Dallas firm, Jenkens & Gilchrist. The firm opened an office in San Francisco in July 2008.

Contents

[edit] The Founders

  • Beverley B. Munford
  • Eppa Hunton, Jr.
  • E. Randolph Williams
  • Henry Watkins Anderson

[edit] Founding The Firm and The Early Years

The year was 1901. In Richmond, Virginia, two young lawyers, bright and ambitious, decided that their city and their region needed a new kind of legal partnership — not just lawyers sharing space, but an authentic law firm with the commitment and capacity to guide its clients through the complexities of business and finance in the new twentieth century. No longer would clients need to go to New York or Boston to find the legal representation to compete in the growing national economy. Armed with their idea and a great deal of enthusiasm, Randolph Williams and Henry Anderson approached two of the most senior, respected members of the Virginia Bar: Beverley Munford and Eppa Hunton, Jr. The four met in Washington, DC. Munford and Hunton embraced the idea, and only a few months after Williams and Anderson first formulated their dream, Munford, Hunton, Williams & Anderson became a reality.

Early in 1902, Munford, Hunton, Williams & Anderson moved into the Hanewinckle Building, later to the Newsleader Building, at Ninth and Main streets.

[edit] The Predecessor Firms

  • Hunton & Son
  • Staples & Munford
  • Henry & Williams
  • Munford & Anderson

[edit] Styles

  • 1901: Munford, Hunton, Williams & Anderson
  • 1927: Hunton, Williams, Anderson & Gay
  • 1932: Hunton, Williams, Anderson, Gay & Moore
  • 1954: Hunton, Williams, Gay, Moore & Powell
  • 1960: Hunton, Williams, Gay, Powell & Gibson
  • 1972: Hunton, Williams, Gay & Gibson
  • 1976: Hunton & Williams
  • 2003: Hunton & Williams LLP

[edit] Name Partners

  • Beverley B. Munford
  • Eppa Hunton, Jr.
  • E. Randolph Williams
  • Henry Watkins Anderson
  • Thomas Benjamin Gay
  • T. Justin Moore
  • Lewis F. Powell Jr.
  • George Dandridge Gibson

Over the ensuing years, the names of eight lawyers have appeared in the firm’s name — in its style.Four of them came from the firm’s first generation, Messrs. Munford, Hunton, Williams, and Anderson, and four of them from its second generation, Messrs. Gay, Moore, Powell, and Gibson.


[edit] Women Pioneers

Elizabeth Tompkins, the first woman graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, 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. Ms. 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. Nan Ross McConnell stayed on, working at the firm under the supervision of Mr. Gibson, until 1948, when she married.

[edit] Overview

Consistent with a firm that claims a former U.S. Supreme Court Justice as an alumnus, Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr., Hunton & Williams was the first law firm in the United States to open an office solely for the practice of law pro bono and it has achieved a national reputation as a pro bono leader among large law firms and frequently is referred to as a model example of a pro bono-cultured firm at national conferences.[citation needed] The firm is also consistently highly ranked among the most prestigious law firms by the National Law Journal, Chambers, and The Vault.[citation needed] Clients include Alcoa, Bank of America, Cingular, Mastercard, SunTrust, Nortel Networks, and BellSouth. It serves clients in virtually every area of law. The firm has a Centre for Information Policy Leadership, which focuses on privacy and data protection work.

[edit] International Reach

[edit] Africa

Hunton & Williams is one of the most active American law firms in Africa. Though it maintains no offices in the region, it has participated in mining and power project finance deals in many countries, including Uganda, Tanzania and Burkina Faso. Much of this work involves assisting sovereign governments in negotiations with the World Bank.

[edit] Asia-Pacific

Since 1997 Hunton & Williams has had a Bangkok office where it represents a variety of corporate clients based in Thailand or investing in that country and indeed through Southeast Asia. In 2005, the office expanded with the addition of a team of lawyers from the local office of the disbanding New York firm, Coudert Brothers, which had absorbed the office of London-based Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Clients serviced from the Bangkok office include Temasek Holdings and the World Bank on a number of privatizations and project finances.

From its office in Beijing, the firm has represented companies investing in China, IPOs of Chinese-based corporations and parties in international trade disputes.

[edit] Europe

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, in 1992 the firm established an office in Warsaw, Poland and assisted long-standing client Philip Morris with a number of acquisitions in Central Europe, as well as representing LOT Polish Airlines among others. In 2002, the firm unwound its operations in Poland and the four partner team switched to Dewey Ballantine, now known as Dewey & LeBoeuf. Recently, the London office has won mandates from the Russian oil and gas giant, Gazprom.[citation needed]

The firm has an active Alternative Investment Market practice in its London office and has advised a number of Russian, Indian and Australian companies on flotations on that stock exchange. In Brussels, the firm represents multinationals in antitrust and other regulatory proceedings.

[edit] Latin America

From its Miami office, Hunton & Williams participates in a number of Latin America transactions, including privatizations, project finance, and debt and equity offerings. Notable clients include Banrural of Guatemala and Viação Itapemirim S.A., the Brazilian interstate bus company.


[edit] Offices

* pro bono Offices

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunton_%26_Williams"