Matthew McGuire, Hunton Andrews Kurth (Courtesy photo)

Matthew McGuire joined Hunton Andrews Kurth as counsel this week from the Virginia Office of the Attorney General, where he was principal deputy solicitor general and executive division counsel.

McGuire will work from his new firm’s Richmond office in its issues and appeals practice. He is following in the footsteps of two other Virginia AG office alumni who moved to Hunton in the past two years, namely partner Stuart Raphael, the former Virginia solicitor general and counsel Trevor Cox, former acting solicitor general.

McGuire cited his familiarity with Raphael, Cox and former West Virginia Solicitor General Elbert Lin, who’s now a partner at Hunton, as a large part of what attracted him to the firm.

“Trevor Cox and I teach a class together at the University of Richmond, and I’d heard about his experience here,” he said. “It just struck me as it’d be fun to work together again and to work at a law firm like this.”

McGuire said he previously worked at Jones Day in Washington, and he talked to some friends there in the year or so since he had begun surveying the market. But he said he ultimately wanted to stay in Richmond, given his young family and roots in the area.

McGuire’s exit from state government comes in the wake of major turmoil for the Virginia AG’s office. Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who is second in line for the governorship, and Gov. Ralph Northam both became enmeshed in blackface-related controversies earlier in the year. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who was accused earlier this year of sexual assault, vigorously denied the allegation made by two women and left his position  in private practice at Morrison & Foerster.

McGuire said the scandals had no impact on his decision to leave the AG’s office or to join Hunton. He said he had always wanted to return to private practice and was interested in pursuing more work involving the energy industry.

“My hope is to take my experience with the appellate courts and legal issues generally and to help clients assess their cases from the beginning, whether they’re in trial court or administrative proceedings,” McGuire said, citing his experience related to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as an example. He said one of the things he finds most rewarding about being a lawyer is distilling complicated concepts down to core issues for generalist judges with large dockets.

Raphael said in a statement that he was eager to have McGuire continuing his ”high-caliber work” at Hunton.

“Matt is a rising star with an already extensive and impressive track record in appellate and trial litigation, and we’re thrilled to have him on board,” Raphael said.