US: Hunton swaps DC leaders after antitrust team joins Shearman

Hunton & Williams has moved quickly to fill the vacancy left by Washington managing partner David Higbee last week.

After Higbee unexpectedly resigned to join Shearman & Sterling—taking four other antitrust partners with him—the firm named Wendell Taylor to replace him as head of the DC office.

Taylor is a 45-year-old former federal prosecutor now specializing in defending companies in antitrust litigation. He built his career at Hunton & Williams before working at the Justice Department for then-Deputy Attorney General James Comey and for the DC US Attorney’s Office.

In his new leadership role, he said he aims to get the firm more involved with civic opportunities in Washington and to raise its profile in the city’s legal community, and he hopes to work on integrating hires from other firms.

Taylor said he doesn’t know why Higbee and the others left Hunton & Williams. “But I do know if we are able to integrate the lateral hires into the firm’s culture, we would have a heads-up about what people’s interests are and be able to address them in real time before folks are walking out the door.”

Hunton & Williams’ executive committee voted him into the position June 15, the day after Higbee and the others resigned.

“I think it was a surprise to all of us. They’re part of my group,” Taylor said. “We were certainly sad to see those guys go. I consider them to be my friends.”

Along with Higbee, Hunton & Williams lost global competition head Bruce Hoffman and antitrust partners Todd Stenerson, Djordje Petkoski and Ryan Shores. Shores had been a member of Hunton & Williams’ executive committee, Taylor said. All are based in Washington.

“I love Hunton & Williams and the people there, but the opportunity for me and for our practice group to work closely with the corporate M&A team and the global footprint of Shearman & Sterling offered the optimum platform for our practice, and ultimately was one that we felt we should not pass up,” Higbee said in an email Wednesday.

Full Content: National Law Journal

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