Hunton & Williams to Launch Boston Office, Acquiring 14 Litigators

Fresh off a merger announced just last month, Hunton & Williams said it will continue to expand by opening a new Boston office with a 14-lawyer commercial litigation team.

The group, which will join Hunton & Williams April 2, includes Sodexo litigator Harry L. Manion III and former Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly.

They hail from the litigation boutique Manion co-founded in 1984, called Manion Gaynor & Manning, and will bring on board 12 other lawyers, all of whom are splitting off from the firm.

The commercial litigation practice is migrating to Hunton, but a larger tort practice, which has about 70 lawyers and is led by name partner John Manning, is becoming independent.

The split occurred after client conflicts between the two practices, litigation and toxic torts, cropped up. Still, after April 2, the newly divided firm will work out of the same geographic location in Boston.

The deal comes after Virginia-based Hunton & Williams announced on February 21 that it would combine with Texas-based Andrews Kurth Kenyon to create a 1,000-lawyer firm. The new firm will be known as Hunton Andrews Kurth when it takes effect on April 2 -- the same day Manion and his team will join the firm.

Another notable lawyer in the group includes the head of Manion Gaynor’s commercial litigation practice, Martin Gaynor, who will serve as the managing partner of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Boston office, the firm said.

Manion, in an interview, said his firm has worked closely over decades with Hunton & Wiliams, including on a major 2012 dispute over polymer and other technologies as well as existing supply agreements which were part of a 2004 agreement in DuPont’s $4.2 billion sale of its textiles and interiors business to Invista, a subsidiary of Koch Industries. The federal district court case was settled, but the terms were not disclosed. Both law firms also have worked, together and separately, for Sodexo, the major food services and facilities management corporation.

Wally Martinez, managing partner of Hunton & Williams, said that Manion and his colleagues will extend its roster on the East Coast from Boston to Miami, with a team of commercial litigators and trial attorneys.

On the East Coast, Hunton & Williams has about 300 lawyers in Washington and New York, 200 lawyers in Richmond, its original birthplace, as well as contingents in Miami and now Boston, which will be its 20th office.

Martinez said Hunton had been looking to establish itself in Boston, but decided not to open a new office because the city’s legal market was so competitive. But when Manion and his colleagues showed interest about a year ago, Martinez said Hunton decided to move ahead.

Manion “had been first chair in some of the most complex and challenging trials in the country and represented some of the top companies, athletes and teams in New England and nationally,” Martinez said.

Manion has handled some high-profile sports representation, including a settlement for coach Pete Carroll after his 1999 firing by the New England Patriots. He has been national litigation counsel for Sodexo since 1986, and has won some 20 jury verdicts for the food service giant in matters as diverse as breach of contract, non-compete clauses and intellectual property.

Manion’s firm did not disclose its financial details. But in 2016, Hunton & Williams had $541 million in revenue, up about 2.5 percent over its prior year earnings, according to the American Lawyer. Its profits per partner stayed flat, at around $1.1 million.

Manion and his colleagues will be bringing litigation experience to Hunton, which is more heavily weighted toward transactions. Both Manion and Martinez say they see the combination as bringing together complimentary expertise.

In addition to Manion, the lawyers joining Hunton include Gaynor, who is experienced in trials and appeals before state and federal courts, and Reilly, a two-term state attorney general who is special counsel to the firm, who specializes in helping clients through state and federal regulatory and criminal matters. His clients include to the power, energy and healthcare industries.

Other lawyers making the move are: partners Christopher J. Cunio and Michael R. Perry; and counsels, Lawrence K. DeMeo, Timothy J. Fazio, and Nicholas D. Stellakis.