WilmerHale has hired the former top lawyer at UnitedHealth Group in London to co-chair its crisis management and strategic response team.
Rupert Bondy has joined the firm as a partner after four years at UnitedHealth, where he acted as chief legal officer before transitioning to senior counsel and executive vice president of governance, compliance and security in 2024.
Earlier, he held the general counsel role at pharmaceutical giant GSK and British oil and gas major BP, as well as consumer health and hygiene company Reckitt.
“Rupert brings unmatched experience leading global companies through some of the most complex challenges of our time,” said Anjan Sahni, WilmerHale’s managing partner, in a statement.
At UnitedHealth, Bondy, who is qualified as a lawyer in both the US and UK, oversaw the company’s defeat of a Justice Department lawsuit in 2022 that sought to block its $7.8bn acquisition of Change Healthcare.
At WilmerHale, he will co-chair the top-ranked crisis management practice alongside Washington DC-based partner Alyssa DaCunha, who said his expertise would be an “invaluable resource” for clients, “particularly his extensive experience navigating internal and external stakeholder engagement”.
The roughly 80-lawyer practice has a strong reputation for criminal investigations, regulatory matters and anti-discrimination compliance, and has worked with clients including Meta Platforms and OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma, according to Bloomberg Law, and recently led a probe into Sam Altman’s ousting from OpenAI as chief executive in 2023.
Until last year, DaCunha co-led the practice alongside heavyweight litigator Jamie Gorelick, a former deputy attorney general who headed the 9/11 Commission and who has remained at WilmerHale as a partner.
Bondy will be the crisis management practice’s sole London-based partner and said he was looking forward to “building on the firm’s strong UK presence and expanding its footprint across Europe”. The 1,100-lawyer firm has around 60 lawyers in London, most of whom (45) are part of its litigation practice.
Commenting on his decision to join the firm, Bondy said: “When legal, public affairs and media challenges converge and an institution’s reputation and business are at stake, WilmerHale is known as the go-to destination for companies looking for solutions that go beyond legal remedies.”
Last year, WilmerHale was among five law firms targeted with executive orders by US President Donald Trump. The executive order cited the firm’s hire of Robert Mueller after he investigated Russian contacts with Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign while US special counsel.
Four of the firms, including WilmerHale, successfully sued the administration over the executive orders, while the last – Paul Weiss – struck a deal to rescind it. The Trump administration is appealing the rulings.
Jenner & Block, which was also among the firms targeted with an executive order, launched a public law and crisis management practice in London last January when it hired longstanding Baker McKenzie partner Joanna Ludlam.
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