Special Features

Richard Cullen

Richard Cullen long has been among the most visible of the partners at McGuireWoods LLP, the Richmond-based legal giant.

That visibility has been enhanced by two relatively brief forays into the public sector—as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia from 1991-93 and as state attorney general for seven months after Jim Gilmore resigned in June 1997 to run for governor—and by his association with Republican politicians when Republicans were in the ascendancy nationally and in Virginia.

But his prominence at the firm reached a new level in December when he was named chairman, succeeding Robert L. Burrus Jr., who became chairman emeritus and continues to practice law and sit on corporate boards.

When he was elevated to chairman, Cullen headed the firm’s white collar defense and government investigation team and still practices in those areas and handles complex commercial litigation. For example, he represented ITT Corporation in March when it pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act by outsourcing secret night vision technology to foreign countries, including China.

He also represents former House Majority Tom DeLay, who resigned in June 2006, in a federal criminal investigation linked to lobbyist Jack Abramoff. DeLay has not been charged.

Because of Cullen’s prominence in Republican circles and the partnership of George Allen with the firm between his terms as governor and senator, the firm is sometimes identified with the GOP. Cullen emphasizes, however, that he is not actively involved in partisan politics and points to the many Democrats and independents among the firm’s lawyers.

Cullen said he views his role at the firm as setting policy and thinking longer term than day-to-day management. In fact, Cullen joined the firm’s executive committee less than year before he was named chairman and had not been involved in administrative matters before then.

The firm has about 750 lawyers in 15 offices, two of them overseas.

“We always want to try to improve our quality,” he said. “We’re continuing to try to recruit the best young people we can. I’m very optimistic based on the young talent that we have at the firm.”

He said he expects continued consolidation among the country’s largest law firms. “We would like to become more dominant” in cities where the firm has a substantial presence.

“We love Richmond, and I think people will always identify McGuireWoods with Richmond, but we now have a footprint that puts us all over the country,” he said.

Biography

Education: B.A., Furman University, 1971; J.D., University of Richmond law school, 1977.

Achievement: Named chairman of McGuireWoods LLP in December 2006

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