Harry L. Hathaway, 1937 — 2023

Harry L. Hathaway’s cultivation of relationships, as well as his corporate law acumen and commitment to enhancing the profession, helped him build up two Los Angeles law firms and guide several bar groups.

Hathaway, who retired in 2016 from Norton Rose Fulbright’s LA office, where he had been managing partner for a dozen years, died at home Oct. 5 after a long illness, his family announced this week. He was 86.

Before his quarter-century at Norton Rose Fulbright, and its predecessor, Fulbright & Jaworski, Hathaway had been managing partner in Los Angeles for Hill, Farrer & Burrill. He was dedicated to finding and wooing talent, bringing in managing partners of other firms and working up mergers to build up law offices.

“The firm wouldn’t be what it is now if it didn’t merge” in 2013, legal recruiter Larry Watanabe said Thursday of Fulbright & Jaworski joining Norton Rose. “There’s still a lot of elements of Harry with the firm and he’s been away a long time.”

Hathaway’s mission when he was recruited in 1989 from Hill Farrer, was to build Fulbright & Jaworski’s complex business litigation, corporate law and real estate practices into a Los Angeles operation “where people recognized that clients are clients of the firm and not of individual lawyers,” Fulbright & Jaworski partner Howard Wolf said in a 2003 Daily Journal interview.

“We try to offer people a stable platform from which to practice law,” Hathaway said in that article. “Our objective … is driven by having an environment that is a happy, pleasant place to work. Money is important, but it’s secondary.” During his 12 years as managing partner, Hathaway shaped a 26-attorney office into one with more than 70 lawyers, significantly enhancing the intellectual property and labor and employment practices.

One of those recruits was Greg Wood, who called in from a doctor’s checkup Thursday to respond to the death of a man he saw as a mentor, even though their practice areas differed. “I can picture his office — and he was always willing to talk — having good conversations with him. He was a very wise man and a good mentor, said Wood, a now retired intellectual property litigator who joined Fulbright from Oppenheimer Wolff & Donelly. “Harry was the one that kind of recruited me. … He was very persuasive, lots of opportunities and I wouldn’t regret it for a moment. … He was very friendly, outgoing. He was always giving.”

“Harry was always forthright yet caring and paid attention to relationships, which enabled him to lead and build Fulbright,” said Watanabe, who interrupted a deal making conference to recall his friend when he heard the news on Thursday. “There is no finer gentleman that I have ever known. He had integrity, candor, yet a sincere and gentle touch, which unfortunately has gone the way of the dinosaur given today’s lateral market supersized by technology. It’s not remotely in the manner in which we operated some years ago. I miss those days sorely.”

Hathaway’s “strength was his practical approach to dealing with complex business problems,” his sons, Mark and David, an attorney, wrote in an obituary. “He loved his work and truly cared about his clients, with whom he maintained long relationships.”

Hathaway was born May 8, 1937 in Pasadena. He played football at UC Berkeley and passed the bar in 1963 after he graduated from USC law school. In 1962 he married his wife, Betsy, who died in 2017. They had three sons, one of whom preceded them in death.

After law school, Hathaway joined the Army as a 1st lieutenant, rose to captain and was an aide-de-camp to the commanding general of the Army Intelligence Corps.

He joined Hill Farrer in 1965 and moved to Fulbright 15 years later, adding new practice areas along with attorneys. “We’re always on the hunt,” Hathaway told the Daily Journal in 2002.

“He was a very honorable person, nice to work with,” John D. McConaghy, who joined in 2003 after 30 years at Lyon & Lyon, said in an interview Thursday. “He was not versed in intellectual property at all. He personally recruited me. He trusteed in my work completely and never interfered, basically. I was impressed with him and he let me do my thing at Fulbright & Jaworski.”

The two were members of the same church. “He was a vital member of his church, a very active member,” McConaghy said. “He was also a very active member of the bar.”

Hathaway lived a full life, not only managing law firms, but becoming an avid sportsman — fishing, hunting, sailing, skiing and attending UC Berkeley football games — and heading the Los Angeles County Bar Association as president in 1990, as well as joining the American Bar Association Board of Governors and serving on several committees.

Hathaway was fully involved in what he did, from board memberships to recruiting, adding “an element to the process that was very transparent,” Watanabe said. “He had the ability and willingness to fully partner on deals. That was unique, due to his personality. He was a caring person, emphatic about the direction he was going, but was a realist. … Harry was a gentleman, period.”

Hathaway is survived by two of his sons, Mark and David, grandchildren Cate, Grace, Benett and Audrey; and daughters-in-law Tami and Wendy.

A memorial service is scheduled for Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. at Church of Our Savior in San Gabriel, followed by a reception. The family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Hathaway’s honor to the UC Berkeley Foundation or the Brian L. Hathaway Scholarship Fund at ArtCenter College of Design.