Chris Abraham

About Dan Hull
I am a member of the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and California bars. A litigator and lobbyist, I have life-long ties to the Washington, D.C. legal and government communities, and equally close ties to lawyers in Western Europe and Latin America. I practice in the areas of complex litigation (primarily U.S. federal courts and ADR abroad), environmental law, employment practices and legislative affairs. When I have time, I write about business litigation, natural resources law, the American legal profession and cultural aspects of international law practice. I also consult and speak about these topics.

What About Clients? is a weblog which contains my personal ideas and thoughts on servicing business clients as valued customers in American law firms. I started it in 2005 because I think that (1) the level of service at even the best American law firms is often inattentive and erratic–and that troubles me–and (2) even where service is sound, it can be a lot better. See The First Post. The day-to-day content of anything in What About Clients? has nothing to do with Hull McGuire PC, a law firm in which I’m a shareholder.

My clients are businesses my firm and I represent on a repeating basis throughout the U.S., Europe and Latin America. We take on only three or four new clients per year–typically Fortune 500 or publicly-traded companies, normally represented by large law firms, which need attentive representation in litigation, international business law, taxation, securities, intellectual property, telecommunications, environmental law, employment practices or legislative affairs (lobbying).

I was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Maryland, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. I am a graduate of Duke University, where I was a reporter and later an associate editor of The Chronicle, Duke’s daily newspaper, and the University of Cincinnati’s College of Law, where I was a student articles editor of the Law Review. I also attended Cincinnati’s Indian Hill High School, where I was Senior Class President and an Eagle Scout. During my last academic year in college, I worked as an intern in health and environmental policy for Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis.) in Washington, D.C. (93rd Congress) as part of course work at Duke’s Public Policy Institute.

After law school, I worked again at the U.S. Congress as a legislative assistant to Representative Bill Gradison (R-Ohio) in Washington, D.C. in the areas of energy and environment (95th, 96th Congresses). I later joined the Washington, D.C. office of Rose, Schmidt, & Dixon as an associate and, eventually, a partner in the firm’s litigation and environmental law groups. I’m listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Law. On March 17, 1992, Julie McGuire, a well-known and respected corporate tax and transactional attorney based in Pittsburgh, and I founded the firm now known as Hull McGuire PC. We have offices in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, and San Diego.

Internationally, since 1997, I have attended, moderated or served as a speaker in conferences of the International Business Law Consortium in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Canada, Mexico and Argentina. I am a member of the IBLC’s Business Development Group, the International Bar Association and the Congress of Fellow of The Center for International Legal Studies in Salzburg, Austria. I am also Co-General Editor, together with Dr. Hans-Joseph (”Hanjo”) Vogel, a German international lawyer who is a partner with the Bonn-based firm of Busse & Miessen, of the IBLC publication International Directory of Corporate Symbols and Terms (IBLC 2003) by the Member Firms of the IBLC, which is available through Mr. Vogel or the IBLC in Salzburg.

Locally, in San Diego, between 1998 and 2004 I was an active member or officer of the Rancho Bernardo Planning Board, a land use and zoning board chartered by the City and County of San Diego, and serving a community of 45,000.