B.A., University of Chicago; J.D., University of California Berkeley
Hilary is a partner at HWG LLP where she serves as Vice Chair of the firm’s Legal Ethics and Malpractice group. Hilary represents lawyers and firms in disciplinary investigations, prosecutions, and malpractice matters. She has represented lawyers in front of every disciplinary body at the state and federal level in D.C. and Maryland, and before the USPTO’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED), and the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). Hilary counsels lawyers regarding conflicts, advertising, fee disputes, the unauthorized practice of law, partner admissions, and law firm formations and dissolutions.
Hilary is the Vice Chair of the D.C. Bar Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee, which proposes amendments to the D.C. Rules, and she is a member of the ABA’s Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee. In 2022, the Judges of the D.C. Circuit appointed her to serve as one of the six members on the D.C. Circuit’s Advisory Committee on Admissions and Grievances. Hilary has published more than thirty articles on developments in legal ethics and her work has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg Law, Law360, and LexisNexis. She is regularly quoted as a legal ethics leader in publications including The National Law Journal and Law360. Hilary teaches courses on legal ethics and malpractice at bar associations and law schools across the country.
In addition to her legal ethics practice, Hilary represents plaintiffs and defendants in civil and criminal litigation. She has represented clients through all stages of litigation, from the initial complaint through trial and appeal in state and federal courts. She has been recognized by Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers for her litigation and white-collar work and she is AV Peer Review rated by Martindale-Hubbell with a 5.0 out of 5.0 rating, Highest Level of Professional Excellence.
Hilary currently serves on the Membership Committee of the District of Columbia Women’s Bar Association and is a Barrister at the William B. Bryant Inn of Court.
Before entering private practice, Hilary clerked for the Honorable Kermit V. Lipez of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She received her J.D. from the University of California Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), where she served as Online Editor of the California Law Review and a teaching assistant for the Legal Research and Writing Program, and where she received the Prosser Award for Written and Oral Advocacy. She received her B.A. from the University of Chicago, graduating Phi Beta Kappa.