Kelley Drye & Warren

Kelley Drye has substantial practice areas in areas including advertising law, antitrust, bankruptcy, communications, corporate, environmental, ERISA, government contracts, government relations, labor and employment, litigation, intellectual property, international trade and customs, real estate, and tax.[1]

In 1836, New York attorneys Hiram Barney and William Mulligan founded a firm that handled significant matters early on, working on the bankruptcies of the Metropolitan Street Railway and New York City Railway. Mr. Barney was later appointed to the then-prestigious position of Collector of the Customs of the Port of New York by none other than President Abraham Lincoln.[2]

Around the turn of the century, name partner Nicholas Kelley joined the firm. Kelley was instrumental in negotiations to finance the production of Chrysler automobiles. The firm also landed a major bankruptcy matter for Westinghouse Electric, a company that would go on to merge with CBS some 90 years later. Name partner John Wilson Drye also brought to the firm important clients, including Union Carbide Corporation, one of the oldest chemical companies.[2]

Kelley Drye partners have long had influence outside the world of private law firms. Partners have been appointed to offices by or advised the presidential likes of Jackson, Van Buren, Wilson, and Lincoln. One former partner assisted in drafting the 1947 Taft Hartley Act, which put heavy restrictions on the activities of labor unions.[2]

Kelley Drye merged with Washington, D.C.–based firm Collier Shannon Scott, PLLC in 2006.[3] In April 2011, Kelley Drye merged with the Los Angeles firm White O'Connor Fink & Brenner LLP.[4] The firm expanded its presence to Texas through a merger with Jackson Gilmour & Dobbs, P.C. in 2016.[5]