Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft

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This article is about a law firm. For other uses, see Cadwalader.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Headquarters	New York City
No. of Offices	5
No. of Attorneys	721^[1]
Major Practice Areas	Full Service Law Firm
Revenue	▲ $587 million^[2]
Date Founded	1792 (New York City)
Company Type	LLP
Website	www.cwt.com

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP is the oldest continuously-operated law firm in the United States.^[3] Established in New York City in 1792, Cadwalader is now one of the leading financial law firms in the world.^[4] The firm is highly rated by Chambers and Partners^[5] in the areas of capital markets, real estate, insurance, and income tax. According to the most recent Am Law 100 survey by The American Lawyer, a New York Law Journal affiliate, Cadwalader had profits per partner of $2.9 million in 2006, topped only by perennial leaders Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Cravath, Swaine & Moore and ahead of Sullivan & Cromwell, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and other elite names. Vault, a leading provider of legal and financial services career information, ranks Cadwalader 26th in its 2008 list of the 100 most prestigious law firms worldwide.

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

[edit] Founding and History

Cadwalader 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 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.

[edit] Names of the firm

During its history, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has been known by a number of names:

Wells & Strong (1818–1823)
Griffin & Strong (1823–1837)
Griffin, Strong & Griffin (1837–1838)
Strong & Bidwell (1838–1845)
Strong, Bidwell & Strong (1845–1855)
Bidwell & Strong (1855–1873)
Charles E. Strong (1873–1878)
Strong & Cadwalader (1878–1914)
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft (1914–present)

The firm became a limited liability partnership in 2004.

[edit] Offices

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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