Bob Lewis, a veteran Richmond-based politics and government correspondent for the past 13 years, will join McGuireWoods as its senior manager for media relations effective Nov. 11, the firm announced today.
Lewis, who was the Associated Press’ state Capitol correspondent for Virginia since 2000, will lead McGuireWoods’ communications team, implementing internal and external media strategies in support of its more than 900 lawyers in 19 offices worldwide and its public affairs subsidiary, McGuireWoods Consulting.
“We are extremely fortunate that Bob was available and we are delighted to be able to bring someone of his talents to McGuireWoods,” said McGuireWoods Chairman Richard Cullen. “He will strengthen our media relations capabilities in both the law firm and for our clients of McGuireWoods Consulting, and we are eager for him to join our team.”
As the chief Virginia political writer for the global news agency, Lewis covered Virginia’s executive branch agencies, state and federal courts, regulatory agencies, law enforcement, natural disasters and human tragedies such as the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks and the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007. For the past three years, he also wrote a widely published weekly politics and state government column titled “South Portico.”
Lewis worked for 35 years as a journalist, beginning as editor and publisher of a weekly newspaper in Mississippi in 1978, and editing and reporting posts for the past 28 years with the AP in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia. He is a two-term past president of the Virginia Capitol Correspondents Association and in 2012 was named to POLITICO’s list of “50 Politicos to Watch” during that year’s presidential and U.S. Senate elections.
“After many years of daily reporting on major statewide and national stories in one of America’s most competitive news environments alongside some of the world’s best reporters, I am delighted to bring my skills, knowledge, contacts and insights to Virginia’s preeminent law and consulting firm,” Lewis said. “McGuireWoods’ professionals are deeply respected in courtrooms, boardrooms and corridors of power in Washington, D.C., and other major cities throughout the nation and the world.
“I look forward to working with the firm’s leadership, its media relations team in all areas of practice to better tell the story of excellent work and outstanding people at McGuireWoods.”