Troutman Pepper

Troutman Sanders was founded in 1897 in Atlanta as the law practice of Walter T. Colquitt. Colquitt was well known in Atlanta near the end of the 19th century for his representation of the Georgia Railway and Electric Company, which would later become the Georgia Power Company.

In 1930, Colquitt formed a partnership with two brothers, Henry and Robert Troutman, both lawyers with clients such as Gulf Refining Company, the Georgia Real Estate Commission and the National Surety Company. Additionally, Colquitt had two other attorneys, Robert S. Parker and Preston Stanley Arkwright Jr., join the firm creating Colquitt, Parker, Troutman and Arkwright. For the next 30 years, the firm grew in size, reputation, and client base, and went through a few name changes as partnerships were formed and broken. By the late 1960s, the firm was known as Troutman Sams Schroder & Lockerman.

In 1971, then-president of Georgia Power, Ed Hatch, suggested the merger of Troutman Sams Schroder & Lockerman with former Governor Carl Sanders' firm, Sanders Ashmore & Boozer. Hatch believed the merger would keep intact the decades of utility expertise of the Troutman firm, while merging the fresh talent and energy of Sanders’ young firm. The new firm would operate as Troutman Sanders Lockerman & Ashmore, until shortened to Troutman Sanders in 1992 when the firm moved from downtown Atlanta's Candler Building to Midtown Atlanta's new 55-story Bank of America Plaza.

From 1993 to 2015, Robert W. Webb Jr. served as managing partner, while the firm experienced growth in the United States and internationally. In 2001, Troutman Sanders merged with Mays & Valentine LLP, which added 150 attorneys to the firm and offices in Richmond, Tysons Corner, and Virginia Beach, Virginia.[6] This spurred further growth and the subsequent opening of offices in Raleigh, NC (2003) and New York City with the acquisition of the New York office of Jenkens & Gilchrist Parker Chapin LLP in 2005.[7][8]

In 2006, Carl Sanders retired and Webb became the firm's chairman and managing partner while Sanders served as chairman emeritus until his death in 2014. In 2009, the firm merged with D.C.-based Ross Dixon & Bell.[9] Troutman Sanders grew to 15 offices after the merger, adding Chicago, Orange County, San Diego, and doubling its D.C. presence. This brought the total number of attorneys to over 650.[10][11]

In 2011, Stephen E. Lewis became the managing partner. In 2015, Webb retired and Lewis became chairman as well.[12][13][14] The firm continued to expand, with offices opened in 2014 in Charlotte[15] and in 2015 in San Francisco.[16]

Before merging with Pepper Hamilton in 2020, Troutman Sanders was organized into 17 areas of legal practice within five departments: Corporate, Real Estate & Finance, Business Litigation, Specialized Litigation, and Energy and Regulatory.[17]

A number of notable lawyers and alumni were associated with the firm.

• Mark Howard Cohen, judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
• Frank Hanna III, Catholic entrepreneur and philanthropist
• Kathleen McGinty, federal environmental policy official
• Carl E. Sanders, former Governor of Georgia
• Harold Melton, former Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court

During its history, Troutman Sanders was known by a number of names:

• Walter T. Colquitt, Esq. (1897)
• Colquitt and Lumpkin (1897–1904)
• Colquitt and Conyers (1904–1917)
• Colquitt, Conyers and Latimer (1918–1930)
• Colquitt, Parker, Troutman and Arkwright (1930–1935)
• Colquitt, MacDougald, Troutman and Arkwright (1935–1937)
• MacDougald, Troutman and Arkwright (1937–1947)
• MacDougald, Troutman, Sams and Branch (1947–1949)
• MacDougald, Troutman, Sams and Schroder (1949–1953)
• Troutman, Sams, Schroder and Lockerman (1953–1971)
• Troutman, Sanders, Lockerman and Ashmore (1971–1992)
• Troutman Sanders LLP (1992–July 2020)[18]

Pepper Hamilton dates its founding to 1890 when former U.S. Senator George Wharton Pepper began his legal practice in Philadelphia.[19] Pepper's essays on conflicts of laws were cited by Justice Brandeis in the landmark ruling Erie Railroad v. Tompkins (1938).[20] Pepper was also instrumental in Supreme Court arguments that led to many New Deal provisions being struck down as beyond the Federal Government's commerce power.[20]

In 1954, the Pepper firm and another Philadelphia law firm — Evans, Bayard & Frick — merged as Pepper, Bodine, Frick, Scheetz & Hamilton creating a 35-lawyer entity. This merger brought in some aspects of the legacy of John G. Johnson (ob. 1917), a solo practitioner, and an eminent antitrust lawyer who had represented Standard Oil and U.S. Steel, argued 168 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and was called the greatest lawyer in the English speaking world in his New York Times obituary. In 1955, shortly after the merger of the Pepper and Evans firms, George Wharton Pepper retired from practice because of failing health. He was succeeded as chairman of the firm by John D. M. Hamilton, who was chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1940. In 1960, another merger brought in the firm of Moffett, Frye & Leopold. The firm grew significantly in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

In 2007, the partnership elected Nina M. Gussack as chairwoman of Pepper's Executive Committee, the first woman to be elected to that position.[21] Pepper partner A. Michael Pratt became the Philadelphia Bar Association’s 81st Chancellor in 2008.[22] He was the third African-American to serve in that office since the Association’s founding in 1802.