For years, McGuireWoods partner Jon Harmon has been known as a trial lawyer who could parachute into a high-stakes case and deliver a win before a jury.

Now, he's got a new role: chairman of 1,100-lawyer McGuireWoods.

Earlier this month, he took over from Richard Cullen (who is representing Vice President Mike Pence in the Russia probe) as leader of the Richmond, Virginia-based firm, which traces its roots back 183 years.

I spoke with him on Wednesday about his position as firm leader and plans for the future. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Lit Daily: Did you have any reservations about agreeing to be chairman?

Jon Harmon: I really love practicing, and in particular, trying cases. I wanted to make sure I would still be able to practice. At our firm, the managing partner has to give up his or her practice, but the chairman still practices. So I didn't have any major reservations about doing it. I was very, very honored that they asked me. I didn't seek it out.

LD: Is there a set term?

JH: There's not a set term. Historically, the people who have chaired our firm have served for around 10 years. Richard Cullen, the former chair, and Tom Cabaniss, the former managing partner, they served 11.

LD: You and J. Tracy Walker IV, the new managing partner, are both trial lawyers. What kind of litigator's perspective do you bring to firm management?

JH: One of my specialties is dropping into cases that are already being litigated and trying them. You've got to be able to identify and figure things out pretty quickly in that environment… You learn how to be a leader. That's not limited to being a trial lawyer, but leading teams, sometimes sizable teams, to try cases—you have to be a good leader to do that. I think that translates in some ways to leadership roles within the firm.

LD: What are your top goals as chairman?

JH: I feel like the previous chair and managing partner did a tremendous job of taking what I'll call our super-regional firm and making it a national firm. We expanded from 700-plus lawyers to about 1,100, and we opened new offices in California, Texas and London. I think the next step is to go from being a national firm to a national powerhouse. It's not a short-term goal, it's not something that will happen overnight, but it is something given our people and culture that I believe we can do.

LD: How do you do it?

JH: One of the things that's very, very important is talking to and getting the thoughts on our strengths and weaknesses from our partners. After I was named as [chairmen-elect] in May, I've been spending a lot of time visiting our 23 offices. I didn't get to all 23, but I got to almost every one, to spend time talking to our partners, particularly on the corporate side, to find what we're good at, what we do.

A big piece of it is developing a plan that's based upon the people who work here and then seeking to execute it. I'm in that process now. I'm still going to be spending more time with our partners and some of our key clients to identify where we want to grow and how we want to do it.

LD: Let's talk about diversity – what perspective do you bring to promoting diversity at McGuire Woods?

JH: Being African-American, that's very near and dear to my heart. Our top leaders are 30 percent women and minorities. That's by no means a suggestion we have arrived. We have not. We have much more work to do. My perspective is that diversity and inclusion is one of our core values, and it's very important to our clients. Our clients are demanding it. I expect we're going to be continuing to improve in that area.

LD: Any specific initiatives?

JH: One thing I'm very proud of that we're going to be rolling out and have started using already is called the McGuireWoods diversity dashboard. Our IT people and the diversity action committee and human resources put together an internal tool that better allows us at a moment's notice to know how we are doing from a diversity standpoint in any particular office or practice group.

It pulls it U.S. Census data on diversity in different markets and allows us with a click of a button to see how we're doing…For instance, we have an office in Los Angeles, and Los Angeles is a much more diverse population than Charlotte, where we also have an office. This tool allows us to see how we are doing as a firm compared to where that office is located. There's a whole host of metrics such as associates and women. It also deals with our suppliers—we have a diversity program with respect to our suppliers.

LD: Has there been anything that you've found unexpected or surprising about being chairman?

JH: You know what I've found a little surprising? It's wonderful—but when my communications folks said there would be a lot of requests for [media] interviews, I didn't believe them. I really didn't. They said wait and see. I was totally wrong about that.

|

Shout-Out: Sheppard Mullin Scores in Unfair Competition Trial

After a four-day jury trial, a team from Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton delivered an across-the-board win for financial services consultant Novantas, Inc. and two of its executives.

The New York Supreme Court jury deliberated just three hours on Tuesday before unanimously finding Novantas and the executives were not liable for breaching confidentiality and non-solicitation contract provisions as well as misappropriation of trade secrets.

The company was sued by rival First Manhattan Consulting Group, represented by Kane Kessler. There seems to be no lost love between the competitors—Novantas was founded by former First Manhattan executives in 1999 and has continued to lure away First Manhattan employees.

In 2014, Novantas nabbed two First Manhattan vice presidents. The pair “were privy to confidential, proprietary and trade secret information,” First Manhattan alleged in an amended complaint filed in October of 2016.

Both executives signed confidentiality and non-solicitation agreements with First Manhattan. “Novantas has wrongfully encouraged the individual defendants, as well as the other employees who left [First Manhattan], to violate their agreements to maintain the confidentiality of [First Manhattan's] information,” the plaintiffs alleged.

But the jury didn't buy it, rejecting all the contract-related claims. Justice Barry Ostrager then proceeded to find in favor of the defendants on the two claims not sent to the jury–misappropriation and unfair competition, completing the win.

Sheppard Mullin New York partners Robert Friedman, Rena Andoh and Paul Garrity litigated the case.

|

Take a Bow, Neal Katyal

The Hogan Lovells appellate ace took the grand prize as The American Lawyer's Litigator of the Year. The AmLaw editors noted that he “argued seven Supreme Court cases in a year's time, and racked up even more since our contest period closed, eclipsing Thurgood Marshall's 50-year record as the minority lawyer with the most SCOTUS arguments.”

Katyal tweeted on Wednesday, “When I joined the private sector 6 years ago, I learned of this award & set an audacious goal of trying to win it in 15 yrs. We did it in 6. Not possible w/out so many espec fab @hoganlovells team & my family + faculty at @GeorgetownLaw & former DOJ colleagues. Am truly humbled.”

The other winners are Karen Dunn, Boies Schiller Flexner, Washington, D.C., Daniel Petrocelli, O'Melveny & Myers, Los Angeles; Brad Karp; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; New York; James Hurst, Kirkland & Ellis, Chicago; Andrew Levander, Dechert, New York; Joshua Rosenkranz; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; New York and James Rouhandeh, Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York.

Members of the 20-plus lawyer group that filed a motion to be named lead counsel include Elizabeth Cabraser, Chris Seeger, W. Mark Lanier; Paul Geller and Linda Singer

Bill Jung has been nominated by Bush, Obama and now Trump.

The deal with all 50 state AGs comes more than five years after the company agreed to pay $95 million to resolve similar claims by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Drinker Biddle & Reath partner William M. McSwain gets the nod for U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

“So far, the story of the talc litigation has mostly been about two things—the science and the choice of forum.”

Lawyers from five firms want to put Harvard Law School professor William Rubenstein on the hot seat.

“In light of changed circumstances, the House, the agencies and the states have determined to resolve the dispute that is pending.”