McGuireWoods names RVA, Norfolk managing partners

McGuireWoods, Virginia’s oldest and largest law firm, has appointed new managing partners in Richmond and Norfolk, the firm announced Friday.

Janet Peyton will lead the Richmond office, and Michael Herring, the current Richmond office managing partner, will become chair of the firm’s commercial litigation department in January 2024. Peyton practices intellectual property, data privacy and security law. She has been with McGuireWoods since 1995, according to her LinkedIn profile, and is a graduate of Tulane University Law School and Duke University. Peyton is the first woman to be named managing partner of the Richmond office.

Richard Cromwell will succeed John Padgett in leading the Norfolk office. He focuses on complex civil litigation, including business and contract disputes, bankruptcy adversary proceedings, product liability, toxic torts and fiduciary and estate matters. He has taken more than 100 cases to verdict in federal and state courts. Cromwell is a graduate of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and William & Mary, and he clerked for the Hon. J. Calvitt Clarke Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Padgett will remain a partner.