The Legal Elite
Top Labor / Employment Lawyer
Hill B. Wellford
Hunton & Williams

by Leigh Ann H. McKelway

Looking courtly in dark suits and comfortable in well-heeled surroundings, Hill B. Wellford Jr. fits the role as he represents blue chip companies such as Philip Morris, Newport News Shipbuilding, Westvaco, IBM and Honeywell. But when the longtime partner at Hunton & Williams enters a 20th-floor conference room and unexpectedly encounters an abandoned cup of coffee and splattered cream, Wellford takes care of the untidiness himself, tossing the Styrofoam cup in the trash and wiping off the table.

It’s this kind of unexpected self-effacement that makes Wellford especially effective in his specialty of law — labor and employment issues. It’s an effective foil since dealing with such areas as wrongful discharge, sexual harassment and workplace safety can get especially testy. Retired U.S. District Judge Robert R. Merhige, a jurist whom Wellford says inspired him, thinks highly of Wellford. "I’ve always been impressed with him, no question about it," says Merhige, now a special counsel at Hunton & Williams. "I could always be assured that when Hill Wellford appeared in my court, his client was going to get good representation. His reputation for integrity and honesty was impeccable. He’s a delightful fellow, very bright, a studious guy. And he has a good sense of humor."

Wellford’s been at Hunton & Williams since 1967. He’s seen the firm’s Labor and Employment Section grow to include 72 attorneys in 10 different offices in the United States, plus three attorneys in Europe. In addition to being involved in the entire spectrum of employee issues in the workplace, his section often handles "glass ceiling" audits, in which the federal government checks for Equal Employment Opportunity compliance at the headquarters level. "You’re managing inquiries related to how people got where they are, why executive management tends to be more male than female or more white than black and how you change that, how you inspire people and open opportunities up and create the source of talent in a corporation," Wellford says.

Several things drew Wellford to labor law. He enjoys heading into the courtroom for a jury trial, but — more than that — he’s more interested in how people relate to others and their surroundings. "The interaction of people in the workplace produces a lot of … issues that I find interesting," he says. "I like the labor law questions, generally, in terms of the mixture of economics and human issues."

Wellford’s interest in relationships carries over into the management training offered by Hunton & Williams’ Labor and Employment Section. "We’ll represent a corporation that’s had some problem, but then we’ll do a lot of preventive work associated with how they stay out of trouble," Wellford explains, such as training on diversity, sexual harassment, EEO issues and basic management of employees. "We don’t go in and try to just defend. … The best service we can really give them is something that causes them to be in a situation where if they are challenged on some issue they can win it. And most of our clients really do have their heads on in the right place. … I think they, by and large, do the right thing."

In the 33 years that Wellford has been practicing labor law at Hunton & Williams, his fascination in human nature has continued. "I love my relationships with clients and my clients are so often people that I really do consider my friends." Being a mentor to young lawyers is another part of Wellford’s job that he enjoys, remembering his own start at the firm, which he describes as having a supportive, positive atmosphere.

In addition to the halls of Hunton & Williams, Wellford also enjoys the outdoors. Accomp-anied by a bird dog named Trouble, Wellford and his wife, Alice, escape as often as they can to Kendale, their family’s farm on the Rappahannock River in Essex County, replete with wildlife such as otters, eagles, ducks, swans and geese. "The environment and having a good dog by your side walking across the field — that’s motivation," he says.