In an extensive legal malpractice and breach-of-contract suit lodged against the law firm formerly known as Hunton & Williams by a Wall Street investment firm, a state appeals court has upheld a Manhattan Supreme Court Commercial Division justice’s dismissal of legal malpractice based on various theories. But, in a reversal, the court also ruled that part of the plaintiff’s breach-of-contact claim against the law firm, now known as Hunton Andrews Kurth after a merger, must go forward.

The Appellate Division, First Department has ruled that an affidavit submitted by the then-president of plaintiff Bison Capital Corp. stating he had “expressly instructed” Hunton, in an underlying lawsuit in which the firm represented Bison, “to place liens on the judgment debtor’s assets,” coupled with allegations that Hunton never did that, “state[d] a claim for breach of contract” when reviewing a motion to dismiss the complaint.