Hanaway to lead new Husch Blackwell project

ST. LOUIS – Former House Speaker, U.S. Attorney, and recent gubernatorial candidate Catherine Hanaway will lead the new “Government Solutions” team for the prestigious Husch Blackwell law firm from its St. Louis firm, according to a statement Thursday.

Husch Blackwell, one of the largest and most decorated law firms in the Midwest, announced it will create the new team to address challenges faced by clients when it comes to regulatory and legislative matters. Husch Blackwell primarily practices in a wide range of industry law and Hanaway said this new team will be an extension of that mission.

“The regulatory and administrative law demands placed on businesses increasingly create interconnected legal, regulatory and legislative challenges that cross multiple jurisdictions and multiple areas of law or policy,” Hanaway said in a statement. “There is an express need to coordinate strategy across all of them – from developing public policy to handling investigations and enforcement actions – and we believe the continuum of services contained within our Government Solutions team provides excellent value, having the right people at the right place at the right time.”

Hanaway most recently ran for governor as a Republican but lost in the primary to the eventual victor, Eric Greitens. Now, she will lead 50 attorneys across eight states and the District of Columbia from the firm’s St. Louis office and control six sectors of the law firm that deal with regulation and public policy. She has worked at Husch Blackwell since 2013.

“Each of our firm’s six industry units has amassed a great deal of government-facing skill and experience – some of it industry-specific and some of it not,” Greg Smith, Husch Blackwell’s CEO and Managing Partner, added. “This effort seeks to leverage the entire breadth of our experience and the aggregate value of our relationships across the platform so every client has access to all of our resources. The Government Solutions group is a natural extension of the industry structure we have in place.”