Jim Hood, Weisbrod Matteis & Copley Jim Hood, Weisbrod Matteis & Copley

Jim Hood, a former four-term attorney general for the state of Mississippi and a 2019 gubernatorial candidate in the state, has joined Washington, D.C.-based litigation boutique Weisbrod Matteis & Copley as counsel in the firm's Jackson, Mississippi, office, the firm said Wednesday.

"I've known Augie for a long time," Hood said in an interview, referring to Weisbrod Matteis co-founder August Matteis. Matteis represented the Mississippi Attorney General's Office in a series of lawsuits the office brought against various insurers, including State Farm, over state payments to homeowners that Mississippi claimed should have been made by insurance companies.

Hood, who officially started with the firm March 1, said his favorite pastime is hunting, and coming from public service will give him a chance to do a different sort of hunting as he builds up his private practice at his new firm.

"I hope the lawyers I worked with will remember some of the battles," Hood said of using his network to grow his client base.

Weisbrod Matteis, founded in Washington in 2011, counts insurance recovery and policyholder litigation among its key practices. Hood said the increased prevalence of high-intensity storms and the damage they wreak, such as the tornado that decimated Nashville, Tennessee, suggests there will be plenty of work available as he ramps up.

He added that even in the short time he has been at the firm, it has fielded a large number of calls from clients and prospective clients regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, with businesses looking for advice on potential employment claims and insurance issues.

"Over his exemplary career as a public servant, Jim demonstrated a genuine concern for victims of injustice that aligns with the values of Weisbrod Matteis & Copley and makes him an ideal addition," Matteis said in a statement. "Jim is a gifted legal strategist and trial lawyer, but the heart that he brings to his matters is what sets him apart."

In his 16 years as attorney general of Mississippi, Hood recovered more than $3 billion from corporate defendants for the state, the firm said. Notably, Hood was a driving force behind litigation against Liberty Mutual insurance and Safeco Insurance in 2017 for denying payments to victims of Hurricane Katrina, which battered the area in 2005 and caused $125 billion in property damage.

A large chunk of that recovered money was the $2 billion paid by British Petroleum following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, according to his firm biography.

In 2005, Hood prosecuted a former KKK member for the murder of three civil rights workers in 1964. The events were previously turned into a fictionalized version of the crime in the 1988 movie Mississippi Burning. Hood closed the investigation in 2016.

Through his last three terms as attorney general from 2008 through 2020, Hood was the only Democrat to hold statewide office in Mississippi. He ran for governor of the state in 2019, losing a close race to incumbent Republican Lieutenant Gov. Tate Reeves.

"During my time as attorney general, I hired a lot of excellent law firms, and Weisbrod Matteis & Copley is the equal of any of them," Hood said in a statement. "I have the greatest respect for the work they have done across the country, and particularly in my state following Hurricane Katrina. This move only underlines WMC's commitment to the Gulf South region."

Weisbrod Matteis has grown to roughly 50 attorneys and 100 employees since its inception in 2011, and has five offices across D.C., the Southeastern U.S. and Puerto Rico. Its geographic footprint lines up with what is commonly known as the U.S. contribution to "Hurricane Alley".

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