Hayes A. Hunt

Hayes Hunt represents corporations and individuals in a wide variety of crisis management, civil litigation and business matters in both state and federal courts throughout the country. Due in part to his diverse background handling both civil and criminal matters, he has successfully tried numerous cases to verdict. This year, Hayes won the Pennsylvania Attorney of the Year award presented by the Legal Intelligencer. Hayes is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. The Fellows is an honorary society of lawyers and jurists and is limited to one percent of the lawyers admitted to practice in the United States and supports empirical, interdisciplinary research in law and social science. Hayes is also a fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America (LCA). The LCA is a trial lawyer honorary society whose membership is limited to less than one-half of 1 percent of American lawyers. He has been named as one of the “10 Best” Attorneys in Pennsylvania by the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys. From 2010 through the present, Hayes has been recognized as one of Pennsylvania’s “Super Lawyers,” selected as one of Pennsylvania’s 35 “Lawyers on the Fast Track” by The Legal Intelligencer and Pennsylvania Law Weekly and named a Pennsylvania “Rising Star” by Law & Politics.

Hayes Hunt is a member of the firm's Commercial Litigation department and Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice group. He has represented businesses and people in high-impact litigation involving: shareholder actions; contractual disputes; wrongful death claims; ownership disputes; intentional torts; Title IX; civil rights claims; discrimination claims; consumer protection claims, trade secret and privacy data breaches and products liability matters. He has represented a broad spectrum of companies in a range of legal and business matters serving as outside general counsel. Hayes’ varied experience includes representing clients in investigations, litigation and grand jury proceedings involving allegations of sexual harassment and abuse, malfeasance, improper conduct, political corruption, perjury and obstruction charges, health care and tax fraud claims. Hayes provides corporations, organizations, business executives, and families with solutions to the most difficult problems.

For the past decade, Hayes has taught Integrated Trial Advocacy as an adjunct professor at Temple University School of Law. His unique class integrates civil procedure, evidence and trial practice skills using a practical hands-on approach. Hayes also frequently lectures to corporate counsel, the American Bar Association, the American College of Trial Lawyers, the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), the District of Columbia Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the Pro Bono Institute. Notably, he was one of only three lawyers in the country selected as a member of NITA’s Next Generation Faculty.

He is also a writer and contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press,The New York Times, Forbes, National Public Radio, Time, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Legal Intelligencer and Law.com’s Corporate Counsel Section.

Hayes’ commitment to providing legal services to the underprivileged started prior to joining the firm, which is one of the reasons he was selected to chair Cozen O’Connor’s Pro Bono Committee. His dedication to the indigent started when he was an attorney at the Defender Association of Philadelphia and continues to represent clients with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. In 2017, Hayes received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Salute to Greatness Justice and Social Equity Award. Previous recipients of the Award include: Hon. Colin Powell, Hon. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Ossie Davis, and Bernard Segal, Esq.

Highly regarded for his advocacy skills, Hayes also serves as chairman of Cozen O’Connor’s Professional Development Committee and continues his mentorship of the next generation of trial lawyers. He founded and created a week-long trial training program crafted to teach advanced litigation skills. He initiated an innovative program for both transactional and trial lawyers to collaborate. The program offers transactional and trial attorneys the opportunity to work together in negotiating a stock purchase agreement and then handle the resulting civil action. The program gives transactional attorneys a purview into litigation and the ramifications of resulting disputes and provides litigators insight into the inner-workings of the transaction side.

Hayes is a member of the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania and New York bars and numerous federal courts including the Supreme Court of the United States. In addition, he serves as a member of the Federal Bar Criminal Law Executive Committee for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He earned his law degree from Temple University School of Law where he is currently a member of the Temple Law Board of Visitors and serving in an advisory capacity to the Dean of the Law School.