McCarter & English is expanding its government affairs shop into Hartford with the addition of Vincent Mauro, Jr., who spent the last twenty years as a top Democratic staffer in the Connecticut State Senate.
Mauro has been the New Haven Democratic chairman for the last ten years; he serves on the Connecticut Airport Authority, the New Haven Board of Fire Commissioners, and is a New Haven Police and Fire Commission member.
He joined the Senate Democratic staff in 1996 as an aide to Martin Looney, worked as a special counsel to the Majority Leader from 2003 to 2014, and became chief of staff in 2015.
Mauro joins a team headed by Guillermo Artiles, the firm’s government affairs chair and a former associate counsel to Gov. Phil Murphy, and Republican National Committeeman Bill Palatucci.
“Adding Vin to our team and the firm is a game-changer,” said Artiles. “Nationally recognized as a power-broker with deep knowledge of the workings of government, he also expands our mid-Atlantic footprint. Vin has a track record of developing policy, high-level negotiations, and reaching across political lines to achieve successful outcomes.”
Palatucci said that “clients across industries and jurisdictions will benefit from Vin’s thoughtful leadership and invaluable counsel.”
“Vin is a prominent power player with a well-deserved reputation for working on both sides of the aisle and skillfully resolving the most challenging personal and political differences with nuanced, effective negotiating,” Palatucci said
The McCarter English lobbying shop includes former New Jersey State Treasurer and Assemblyman Michael Horn (R-Wayne), former Board of Public Utilities chief of staff Grace Power, former Assembly Majority deputy executive director Cat Tung, and Michael Maitland, a former chief of staff to Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) and aide to U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg.
Earlier this year, former Morris County Prosecutor and 1997 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Michael Murphy joined McCarter Government Solutions, their Trenton-based lobbying firm. His father, Richard J. Hughes, served two terms as governor and was the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1973 to 1979. His brother, Brian Hughes, is serving his fifth term as Mercer County Executive. Another brother, John Hughes, was a federal judge.
Former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Jaynee LaVecchia joined McCarter and English as a partner. She retired after 23 years as an associate justice. The former U.S. District Court chief judge, Jose Linares, is also with the firm.
“After nearly three decades of state service, I look forward to this new chapter in my career in private practice as a member of McCarter’s highly regarded Government Affairs team,” stated Mauro. “The firm is truly a one-of-a-kind, well-established ‘one-stop shop’ for businesses at any stage of their development, able to advance their interests on the local, state, national, or global level. I am excited to leverage my political capital to drive meaningful continued growth for McCarter and its clients.”
McCarter & English is one of the state’s largest law firms, and the two sons of its founder served as attorney general of New Jersey: Thomas McCarter, a former New Jersey Senate Majority Leader, was nominated as the state’s top law enforcement official in 1902 by Gov. Franklin Murphy. His brother, Robert McCarter, succeeded him after he resigned to become president of the Public Service Corporation (now PSE&G) in 1903.
During the era of Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague, Robert McCarter served as counsel to a legislative committee investigating allegations of voter fraud in Hudson County during the 1930s.