
From left, co-founders Nicole Brenner, Edward Mullen and Chrissy Noonan. (Courtesy Seven Hills Strategy Group)
After years of operating their practice within a large downtown law firm, three local lobbyists have made an entrepreneurial leap.
Edward Mullen, Nicole Brenner and Chrissy Noonan earlier this month left law firm Reed Smith to strike out on their own and launch Seven Hills Strategy Group, a lobbying and government affairs firm.
The co-founders said they left Reed Smith through an “extraordinarily amicable process,” and fittingly opened Seven Hills on Jan. 6, the effective eve of the General Assembly session.
They bring with them a book of business of big-name clients such as Carilion Clinic, Dominion Energy, FedEx, GM, Live Nation, Microsoft, Boyd Gaming, Smithfield, Uber and United Airlines, as well as some associations and foundations. They help those companies interact with the state government and to be aware of legislation and regulation that may affect them.
The move from Reed Smith was spurred by the desire to have more flexibility to help those clients in more of a non-law firm setting.
“I loved the firm. It’s a wonderful, big global firm and we had a successful practice there,” Mullen said of Reed Smith. “But our practice is a little bit different from a lot of big law practices.”
One of the tricky parts of running a government affairs practice within a big law firm is that the frequency of client work and the way in which those clients are billed through fees is different than most other industry practice groups.

Seven Hills Strategy Group keeps its office on the third floor of the Credit Union House of Virginia. (Courtesy Emerald Construction)
“Our thought process on making the move really focused on our clients and the best platform from which to serve their interests,” Mullen said. “The smaller government relations shop platform could be set up in a way that reflects the client demand.”
Brenner said the new firm also frees them up to more easily recruit non-lawyer talent, which is needed in the government affairs world.
“We really find value in non-lawyers and that is something we’d like to grow here, and this is also probably an easier format for us to attract (non-lawyers),” Brenner said. The trio added that while Seven Hills is not a law firm, all three will maintain their law licenses.
Mullen, who earned his bachelor’s and law degree at UVA, started out working for Sen. Mark Warner, who at the time was gearing up for a run for governor. Mullen jumped to Reed Smith in 2008 to work for veteran government affairs attorney Bill Thomas, before taking over that practice and running it ever since.
Brenner graduated from Mary Baldwin University and Florida State before coming to Virginia to work in the Division of Legislative Services. She joined Reed Smith in 2016.
Noonan went to UVA for undergrad and University of Richmond for law school and started in insurance law before working at the same agency as Brenner. She joined Mullen and Brenner at Reed Smith six years ago.
Joining them at Seven Hills is an additional trio from Reed Smith: lobbyist Nikki Thacker; office manager Gwen Price-Williams; and senior advisor Dennis Treacy.
The group operates from an office on the third floor of the Credit Union House of Virginia at 108 N. Eighth St., within eyeshot of the State Capitol and a few blocks north of Reed Smith’s Richmond office at Riverfront Plaza, which now consists of a team of nine, according to its website.
Looking ahead, Seven Hills said they’re focused on the current GA session, after which they’ll look to continue to grow the ranks of their new firm.
As for the emotions of starting their own firm, the co-founders said they felt the customary entrepreneurial jitters when leaving the comfortable confines of a large law firm. But seeing many of their clients come along with them made the leap easier to stomach.
“The reactions from our clients were really meaningful,” Noonan said.
Mullen said they’re reveling in their new path.
“Betting on yourself and betting on your partners is exhilarating,” Mullen said. “Even in the first couple of weeks I expected it to be wonderful and it’s just fantastic. It’s a big change from big law to smallish business but it’s wonderful.”

From left, co-founders Nicole Brenner, Edward Mullen and Chrissy Noonan. (Courtesy Seven Hills Strategy Group)
After years of operating their practice within a large downtown law firm, three local lobbyists have made an entrepreneurial leap.
Edward Mullen, Nicole Brenner and Chrissy Noonan earlier this month left law firm Reed Smith to strike out on their own and launch Seven Hills Strategy Group, a lobbying and government affairs firm.
The co-founders said they left Reed Smith through an “extraordinarily amicable process,” and fittingly opened Seven Hills on Jan. 6, the effective eve of the General Assembly session.
They bring with them a book of business of big-name clients such as Carilion Clinic, Dominion Energy, FedEx, GM, Live Nation, Microsoft, Boyd Gaming, Smithfield, Uber and United Airlines, as well as some associations and foundations. They help those companies interact with the state government and to be aware of legislation and regulation that may affect them.
The move from Reed Smith was spurred by the desire to have more flexibility to help those clients in more of a non-law firm setting.
“I loved the firm. It’s a wonderful, big global firm and we had a successful practice there,” Mullen said of Reed Smith. “But our practice is a little bit different from a lot of big law practices.”
One of the tricky parts of running a government affairs practice within a big law firm is that the frequency of client work and the way in which those clients are billed through fees is different than most other industry practice groups.

Seven Hills Strategy Group keeps its office on the third floor of the Credit Union House of Virginia. (Courtesy Emerald Construction)
“Our thought process on making the move really focused on our clients and the best platform from which to serve their interests,” Mullen said. “The smaller government relations shop platform could be set up in a way that reflects the client demand.”
Brenner said the new firm also frees them up to more easily recruit non-lawyer talent, which is needed in the government affairs world.
“We really find value in non-lawyers and that is something we’d like to grow here, and this is also probably an easier format for us to attract (non-lawyers),” Brenner said. The trio added that while Seven Hills is not a law firm, all three will maintain their law licenses.
Mullen, who earned his bachelor’s and law degree at UVA, started out working for Sen. Mark Warner, who at the time was gearing up for a run for governor. Mullen jumped to Reed Smith in 2008 to work for veteran government affairs attorney Bill Thomas, before taking over that practice and running it ever since.
Brenner graduated from Mary Baldwin University and Florida State before coming to Virginia to work in the Division of Legislative Services. She joined Reed Smith in 2016.
Noonan went to UVA for undergrad and University of Richmond for law school and started in insurance law before working at the same agency as Brenner. She joined Mullen and Brenner at Reed Smith six years ago.
Joining them at Seven Hills is an additional trio from Reed Smith: lobbyist Nikki Thacker; office manager Gwen Price-Williams; and senior advisor Dennis Treacy.
The group operates from an office on the third floor of the Credit Union House of Virginia at 108 N. Eighth St., within eyeshot of the State Capitol and a few blocks north of Reed Smith’s Richmond office at Riverfront Plaza, which now consists of a team of nine, according to its website.
Looking ahead, Seven Hills said they’re focused on the current GA session, after which they’ll look to continue to grow the ranks of their new firm.
As for the emotions of starting their own firm, the co-founders said they felt the customary entrepreneurial jitters when leaving the comfortable confines of a large law firm. But seeing many of their clients come along with them made the leap easier to stomach.
“The reactions from our clients were really meaningful,” Noonan said.
Mullen said they’re reveling in their new path.
“Betting on yourself and betting on your partners is exhilarating,” Mullen said. “Even in the first couple of weeks I expected it to be wonderful and it’s just fantastic. It’s a big change from big law to smallish business but it’s wonderful.”
Congratulations and best wishes for continued success Edward!