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Finalist: General Counsel of the Year for a Mid-sized Legal Department
By Mark Curriden
(Jan. 16) – The role of the corporate general counsel has evolved significantly over the past decade.
Once relegated to a distant office far from the center of corporate power and decision-making by CEOs and boards of directors, GCs are now critical and strategic advisers who participate in nearly every aspect of a business’s operation.
There is no better example than David Hernandez, who is senior vice president and general counsel for Hunt Consolidated.
“I spend less and less of my time on routine legal issues and more and more time focusing on strategic and business planning,” he says.
For the past several months, Hernandez has spent a significant amount of time focused on succession planning with the global oil company’s 74-year-old founder and chairman Ray Hunt and co-CEOs Hunter Hunt, who is Hunt’s son, and Christopher Kleinert, Hunt’s son-in-law.
But Hernandez also has the reputation as an excellent lawyer and leader of the legal profession who has scored several high-profile courtroom victories during his time at Hunt.
The DFW Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and The Texas Lawbook have named Hernandez a finalist for the 2017 Outstanding Corporate Counsel’s General Counsel of the Year Award for a Mid-sized Legal Department.
“David is as strategic and thoughtful as any lawyer we have seen,” Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst partners Shonn Brown and Michael K. Hurst said in nominating Hernandez. “David listens, processes and then speaks. When he speaks, he uses a commanding and authoritative but diplomatic voice to confidently provide strategy and advice to outside counsel, executives, people on his in-house team, and to his high-profile employers.
“David is a lightning quick study with a group of complex business, tax, and litigation matters,” Brown and Hurst wrote. “He is the general that we all want to follow, and are honored to do so.”
Hernandez was born in Baltimore and grew up in Virginia Beach. His parents were pharmacists. His mother, who was the daughter of Italian immigrants, dreamed of success for her son, which meant he needed to become a lawyer or doctor.
After getting a degree in finance from the University of Virginia, he went to law school at the University of Chicago. He then spent a half-dozen years practicing tax law at Hughes & Luce and Vinson & Elkins.
Electronic Data Systems lured Hernandez to join the company in 1998 as its vice president of tax. During his time at EDS, he engaged in extensive tax policy analysis with policymakers in Congress and at the U.S. Department of Treasury. He even testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on the competitive importance of the Research and Development Tax Credit.
A decade ago, Hunt Consolidated picked Hernandez to lead its legal operations. Since then, he has become a trusted adviser and counselor to the Hunt family.
“I literally learn something from Ray every single day that makes me a better lawyer, a better father and a better person,” he says. “For his entire life, Ray has studied what works best for businesses and what does not. The legal aspects of the succession plan are not rocket science, but it requires great collaboration and communication among the family members to do this successfully.”
Hernandez has not backed away from a fight, including suing global conglomerate Honeywell in 2014 for alleged defects in the engines on the Hunt company’s Learjet. A Dallas jury ruled for Hunt and awarded $1.4 million.
Hernandez says the downturn in commodity prices during the past three years has certainly made the business more challenging.
“Some call it a perfect storm, but I call it a perfect opportunity,” he says. “By needing to manage through these more difficult times, we’ve stepped back to look at our international footprint. We are always looking for new opportunities in early stage energy innovation and development – be it wind, solar or maybe new battery technology.”
“We are always looking to grow,” says Hernandez, who adds there is no interest in taking Hunt public. “We are very happy being a private company.”
Hernandez says his job is made easier because of the company’s high ethical principles.
“I come to work every day excited about what is to come for this company,” he says. “The best days of Hunt are still ahead.”
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