By Lindsey M. Welfley

With a robust legal career and impeccable reputation for civility and professionalism, Larry C. Hunter is certainly a name well-known among the Idaho State Bar.

Larry was born in Northern Utah while his dad was attending Utah State University, but was raised in Twin Falls, Idaho from first grade on – “I consider myself a native Idahoan.” After graduating from Twin Falls High School, Larry moved to Massachusetts to complete his undergraduate education at Harvard University. He graduated cum laude in 1968 and received the Harvard Service Award. While at Harvard he recalls one of his most interesting classes was one called “Law in Society,” which was taught by a Harvard law professor. It focused on the myriad ways the law impacts our daily lives. Larry says this kindled his interest in pursuing a legal career. After graduation, Larry served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Chile. After his return, he enrolled in the Master’s Program in Latin American Studies at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. While there, he met and, after a long pursuit, married his wife, Iris, in 1971.

Larry’s first job after college and his time in South America was with the Bank of America as an International Banker in the Latin American Division. He and his family moved to San Francisco, where they lived until his decision to go to law school in 1973. Larry chose Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago and again they relocated. During their time in Chicago, Larry and his family were asked to attend a Spanish-speaking congregation where Larry served as Branch President.

Once in law school, Larry and Iris knew he had made the right decision. While he had never known a lawyer or even that much about the practice of law, he had always gravitated more toward an area where he could be of benefit to society. Besides being a husband, father, and lay minister, Larry worked part-time all three years of law school for a corporate law department and in a law firm.

By the time he graduated from law school, he and Iris had three young children, the third of whom was delivered on the day of a final exam in his third year. Larry graduated with his law degree in 1976 and began looking for work back in Idaho. Larry accepted a job with Moffatt Thomas and remained there for the entirety of his 45-year legal career (the firm later merged with Hawley Troxell).

Larry recalls the day he and his family pulled into Boise. It was the same Saturday in June 1976 that the Teton Dam burst, flooding the upper Snake River Valley and causing major loss of property and minor loss of life. When Larry walked into work on Monday, the Teton Dam case was the first on his desk. Unbeknownst to him, this early litigation experience would catalyze a career-long love for trial work.

In the early years of his practice, Larry worked briefly on business work as a transactional lawyer, because he had experience in the banking industry. He focused on real estate transactions and banking law. Soon he got into litigation and that is where he found his home. As Moffatt Thomas was a civil law defense-oriented firm, Larry mostly practiced defense litigation in a variety of settings: agricultural products and chemicals, aviation litigation, and automotive design cases. His defense work, as he states, could really be summed up as a products liability practice.

After practicing in these areas for approximately 35 years, Larry also began working as a mediator and arbitrator while maintaining his litigation practice. (Iris says helping raise six children contributed to his success as a mediator.) Overall, he maintained a truly diverse practice, working also in administrative law and serving as the attorney for the Idaho State Board of Accountancy for over 10 years. On occasion, he did a little domestic relations work and had a couple of criminal law cases. One of the more interesting things that Larry did in the practice of law was in South America. From 2014 to 2016, Larry was the Associate Area Legal Counsel for his Church in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile as a volunteer missionary. He represented the Church in a variety of legal scenarios.

Larry has served the profession and his community well over the past four decades, taking his retirement in 2020. Throughout his six children’s school years, he volunteered in various PTO capacities, coached a variety of youth sports teams, and served on various committees of the Boise School District. He remembers, after coaching his eldest daughter, Risa’s, soccer team for two years, telling the rest of his children that he would coach their teams as well for as long as he had coached her. This put him on track for 12+ years of coaching youth sports. He also chaperoned for his children’s music competition trips. Larry and Iris continued to work with the Spanish-speaking community of their Church after moving to Boise as well as filling other significant volunteer positions in the Church.

Larry consistently dedicates himself to giving back to his community as well as his profession. He has been a member of the local Boise and Eagle chapters of the Kiwanis International service club since 1978. He served on its Board of Directors and as President from 2010 to 2011. Additionally, he served as Lieutenant Governor of the Utah-Idaho District of Kiwanis from 2016 to 2018, and then as Governor from 2018 to 2019.

While he claims not to have a musical bone in his body, Hunter enjoys music very much and joined the Boise Philharmonic Board of Directors in 2000. He served as Board President from 2007 to 2008 and has been a member of the Boise Philharmonic Foundation since 2008. He now serves at the Governor’s appointment as the public member of the Idaho State Board of Accountancy. Even before his retirement, Larry and Iris served as poll workers on election days.

In service to the profession, Larry Hunter has been committed to a long history of volunteer initiatives since the late 1990s. He recounts, notably, his time as an Idaho State Bar Commissioner from 2001 to 2004, stating that it was “truly a highlight of my legal career, being able to serve in that capacity.”   Additionally, Larry served as Idaho’s delegate to the American Bar Association House of Delegates during various terms spanning from 2004 to his retirement in 2020. His work on two specific ABA committees during that time frame was of significant importance to him:  first, serving on the ABA Standing Committee on Paralegals from 2005 to 2009 (Chair from 2008 to 2009); and second, serving on the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Program from 2016 to 2019. Larry has also served as a Bar Exam grader for the past several years; it is a method of giving back to the profession that he continues to enjoy. Another opportunity for service in the profession that was particularly fulfilling was his work with the Idaho Volunteer Lawyers Program Soundstart initiative at the Idaho Women’s Prison, the Salvation Army, St. Michael’s, and more working with new mothers, expectant mothers, and families regarding child custody issues. In addition, he has worked on the Anti-Harassment, Anti-Discrimination Subcommittee of the Idaho State Bar’s Professionalism & Ethics Section.

Throughout both his professional and personal life, Larry names several individuals as having an important influence on him. During his time at Harvard, Larry fondly remembers those he met during his Church experience, as well as those he met and lived with. Once he made it to Boise, Larry recalls the first person who interviewed him at Moffatt Thomas, the late Ron Rock, a litigator at the firm, as having influenced his early career. Later, Larry would go on to model the work of the late Richard “Dick” Fields, eventually following him on to the Board of the Boise Philharmonic. Dick showed Larry the importance of serving the community and the profession. Both men showed him the importance of ethics and civility in the practice of law.

When asked about any specific achievements or accomplishments that stick out to him, Larry exercises quite a level of humility despite his long resume and outstanding reputation. He says he will always remember being sworn into the bar; a day that held a deep importance to him, after he had made the decision to change professions, weathered a challenging law school experience, passed the bar exam, lost his father to cancer just before the ceremony, then to be in sworn in. “That was a big deal and a big highlight, but I don’t want it to sound like it’s all been downhill from there because it hasn’t.” Larry also remembers in 2003 when he and Iris had the opportunity to host in their home a Russian Supreme Court Judge – “That several-day experience was enlightening on both sides.”

Throughout the course of his career, Larry has always worked to ensure that the Rule of Law is upheld. He passionately writes, “The practice of law is meant to safeguard the Rule of Law in our society. It is our responsibility as attorneys to assure the rule of Law is upheld.” His career is a testament to that. He adds, “Civility is essential to a beneficial practice of law. That does not imply a milk toast approach to advocacy, but it does eliminate, or at least reduce, disrespect and unnecessary contention.”  His reputation is a testament to that.

Larry and Iris have six children and 22 grandchildren. They enjoy traveling, family time, reading, golfing, kayaking, and several other fun pastimes. Larry would like to mention the deep appreciation he has for the support his wife, Iris, has always given him. Anything he has accomplished is due to that support. His children are all productive members of society, and he thanks them for their patience, good humor, love, and support through the years. Larry would also like to thank his associates at Moffatt Thomas and later Hawley Troxell for what they taught him and how they gave him fellowship and a solid platform for his practice for almost 45 years. Also, friends and extended family have been important in providing him with a positive environment throughout his time in Boise.

Lindsey M. Welfley is the Communications Director of the Idaho State Bar, overseeing all communications-related initiatives of both the Idaho State Bar and the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. She graduated from Grand Canyon University with her undergraduate degree in history in 2015 and has been employed with the Idaho State Bar ever since. Lindsey has been the Communications Director since March 2019.