page_title: Willkie Farr & Gallagher
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Willkie Farr & Gallagher / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter of the United States Supreme Court.
context_page_description: Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, commonly known as Willkie, is an international law firm founded in 1888. It has over 700 lawyers, in 12 offices in six countries. The firm specializes in corporate practice. Supreme Court Justices Felix Frankfurter and Charles Evans Hughes began their careers at the firm, as did former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, and former New York Governor Mario Cuomo served as of counsel at Willkie Farr after leaving office. The law firm's profits per equity partner were $3.17 million in 2019.
context_section_description: The firm was founded in 1888, with four lawyers. The original firm was Wall Street stalwart Hornblower & Byrne, which was founded by William B. Hornblower and James Byrne, and was located at 280 Broadway in New York City. Hornblower was a prominent ally of President Grover Cleveland and rose to serve as President of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, as well as sit as a judge on the New York Court of Appeals.
  Early clients in the 1890s included the New York Life Insurance Company; the New York Securities and Trust Company (later the New York Trust Company); The Rome, Watertown, Ogdensburg and Parsons Railroad; Grant & Ward, a brokerage firm partnership between ex-President Ulysses S. Grant and Ferdinand Ward; the Otis Elevator Company; the United States Ship Building Company; and Thomas A. Edison.
  Two associates, Felix Frankfurter (who started his legal career at the firm in 1906) and Charles Evans Hughes, have served as Justices of the US Supreme Court, with Hughes serving as Chief Justice.
  Two partners have served as American Bar Association President. The first was Charles A. Boston (who became an associate at the firm in 1901 when it was Hornblower, Byrne, Miller & Potter) in 1930–31. He was followed by Harold J. Gallagher (who initially joined the firm in 1917 when it was Hornblower, Miller & Garrison) in 1949–50.
  In 1931, the firm merged with the law firm of Miller, Otis and Farr. At that point, in total the firm had 12 partners and 24 associates, making it one of New York's larger firms. In 1939, the firm hired its first female associate, Mary MacDonagh.
  In January 1940 Harold J. Gallagher, one of the most influential partners in the history of the firm, extended an offer to Wendell Willkie to join the firm then known as Miller, Boston & Owen. This was several months before Willkie received the Republican nomination for president. After losing the Presidential election to the incumbent FDR, Willkie joined the firm and became a partner in 1941. The firm's name was changed a year later to Willkie, Owen, Otis & Bailly, and later to Willkie, Owen, Otis, Farr & Gallagher. Willkie later became F.D.R.'s personal envoy to many countries, promoting the Lend-Lease program. He later wrote a book about his travels entitled One World, a plea for global cooperation and peacekeeping. In 1947, his estate's interest in the law firm was valued at $125,000 ($1,431,000 in current dollar terms). That year, the customary hourly rate of a Willkie partner was $50 ($600 in current dollar terms) an hour.
  Major clients during this period included insurance companies such as Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; New York Life; Equitable; Aetna; Connecticut General; John Hancock; and Prudential for which the firm represented for a number of industry private placements.
  Throughout the 1960s, Gallagher-lead Willkie was occupied with railroad reorganizations, setting the stage for the firm's emergence as a bankruptcy powerhouse. In 1968 the firm adopted its current name, Willkie Farr & Gallagher. From 1969 to 1995, Bob Hodes was the Chairman of the firm.  In 1977, Patricia S. Skigen became the firm's first female partner. That year, the firm moved to One Citicorp Center.
  The firm was long known for its representation of Major League Baseball. Former Willkie Farr partner Bowie Kuhn served as Commissioner of Baseball from 1969–1984. Willkie Farr represented Major League Baseball in the famous Curt Flood free agency/antitrust case in the United States Supreme Court in 1970, and successfully litigated famous cases such as the Pine Tar Game in 1983 as well as, later in the 1980s, against Pete Rose regarding the highly publicized gambling case.
  In 1993 Willkie suffered a precipitous drop in business when Shearson Lehman, which accounted for one-third of Willkie Farr billings, was sold to The Travelers Companies. The firm consequently adopted a policy that no client would account for more than five percent of its business.
  In 1994, corporate partner Nora Ann Wallace became the first female member of the firm's Executive Committee. Begin
caption: Felix Frankfurter
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