Day Pitney

Pitney & Hardin was founded in Newark, New Jersey in 1902, by attorneys John R. Hardin and John Oliver Halstead Pitney, the latter being the brother of Supreme Court justice Mahlon Pitney.[1] William J. Brennan Jr., who would later become a Supreme Court justice himself, was hired by the firm, right out of Harvard Law School, in 1931. According to Kim Isaac Eisler, in The Last Liberal: Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. and the Decisions That Transformed America, the firm's clients, particularly Phelps Dodge, Western Electric and General Electric, were "some of the most notoriously antilabor corporations in the state of New Jersey."[1] Eisler asserted the anti-labor clients he worked for while at Pitney Hardin Ward & Brennan cemented the liberal outlook he would later bring to his Supreme Court opinions. In 1999, after several unsuccessful ventures into the New York market, Pitney Hardin LLP "finally established a beachhead in New York" by taking over the intellectual property firm of Kane, Dalsimer, Sullivan and Levy, absorbing eight attorneys and moving into the acquired firm's office space.[2]

Day & Berry was founded in Hartford, Connecticut in 1919, by attorneys Edward M. Day, Joseph F. Berry, and Lawrence A. Howard.[3][4] In 1922, the firm relocated its offices "to be close to one of its largest clients, Connecticut Bank and Trust" (CBT),[3] and in 1923, the firm combined with a firm headed by Harry W. Reynolds to form Day, Berry & Reynolds.[5] By the 1930s, the firm operated under the name, Day, Berry & Howard. The firm relocated to Constitution Plaza in 1963, again to stay close to CBT.[3] By 1977, Day, Berry & Howard was one of the largest in Connecticut, and established an office in Stamford, Connecticut.[6] By 1984, the firm had 120 attorneys and an equal number of staff, at which point it moved its headquarters to City Place I.[3]

In October 2006, Pitney Hardin LLP and Day, Berry & Howard LLP announced that they were merging to form Day Pitney LLP. The law blog Above the Law, reviewing the announced merger in advance of its execution, questioned whether the move would be enough to give the new firm a foothold in the highly competitive New York legal market.[7] The merger was carried out in January 2007.[8][9]

In 2015 the firm was one of two sued for allegedly overbilling a client in a major Connecticut medical malpractice suit.[10] In 2016 and 2019, the firm expanded in the Florida market by merging with smaller boutique firms, Chapin, Ballerano and Cheslack,[11] and Richman Greer,[12] respectively.

In 2020 the firm employed 268 attorneys in 13 offices.[13]