Willkie Farr & Gallagher history

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.

In 1931, the firm merged with the law firm of Miller, Otis and Farr.

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.

After losing the Presidential election to the incumbent FDR, Willkie joined the firm and became a partner in 1941.

In 1947, his estate's interest in the law firm was valued at $125,000 ($1,449,000 in current dollar terms). That year, the customary hourly rate of a Willkie partner was $50 ($600 in current dollar terms) an hour.

In 1968 the firm adopted its current name, Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

In 1977, Patricia S. Skigen became the firm's first female partner.

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.

In 1994, corporate partner Nora Ann Wallace became the first female member of the firm's Executive Committee.

Beginning in 1995, and for the next two decades, Mario Cuomo (the former 52nd Governor of New York, the Lieutenant Governor of New York, and the Secretary of State of New York) was of counsel at Willkie Farr.

In 2003, carbon monoxide and smoke inhalation from a fire at a historic bed-and-breakfast in Charlottesville, Virginia, where members of the firm were staying on a recruiting trip, killed Willkie recruiting coordinators Trish Langlade and Billie Kelly.

In 2007, Willkie announced a strategic alliance with Dickson Minto, a boutique law firm with offices in London and Edinburgh that specializes in private equity, with both continuing to operate independently of each other.