Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP is the oldest continuously running law firm in the United States. It was established in 1792.

The firm is highly rated by Chambers and Partners in the areas of capital markets, insurance, and income tax.

1 Founding and History
2 Names of the firm
3 Offices
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Founding and History

CWT was founded by an orphan, John Wells, in lower Manhattan. In 1818, Wells established one of the first law partnerships with George Washington Strong. On Wells' death in 1823 Strong asked George Griffin to join him as his partner. This partnership lasted until 1838, when they separated amicably, and Strong entered into a new partnership with Marshall S. Bidwell. In the same year, Strong's son, George Templeton Strong, joined the firm as a clerk; he became a partner in 1845. When George Washington Strong died in 1855 the firm was renamed Bidwell & Strong by virtue of Bidwell's more senior status, but over the following years it was George Templeton Strong who became the more prominent.

Strong became disillusioned with legal practice towards the end of his life, the final straw being Bidwell's death in late 1872. Strong resigned from the firm at the end of that year, leaving it in the hands of his cousin Charles E. Strong. Charles E. Strong wished to form a partnership with his friend John Lambert Cadwalader, but this had to wait until 1878 due to Cadwalader's appointment as an Assistant Secretary of State.

Henry W. Taft joined the firm in 1889 and became a partner in 1899. His special expertise in antitrust matters led to his appointment, in 1905, as Special Assistant to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York to supervise the government's case against the American Tobacco Company. He returned to the firm in 1907.

George W. Wickersham joined the firm in 1883 and became a partner in 1887. In 1909 he was appointed United States Attorney General by President William Howard Taft, brother of Henry W. Taft. When he returned to the firm in 1914 it was renamed Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Strong having died in 1897.