Taft Stettinius & Hollister, commonly known as "Taft", is an American, white-shoe law firm founded in Cincinnati, with offices in Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Delaware, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Detroit, Michigan; Indianapolis, Indiana; Covington, Kentucky; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Phoenix, Arizona; and Washington, DC. Taft has been referred to as Cincinnati's most prestigious law firm.

History

Taft traces its roots back to 1885, when Worthington & Strong was founded by Judge William Worthington and Edward W. Strong. John L. Stettinius and John B. Hollister joined the firm after its founding, at which point the firm became known as Worthington, Strong, Stettinius & Hollister. In January 1923, Judge Worthington died. In the following year, a young firm headed by

Robert A. Taft Robert Alphonso Taft Sr. (September 8, 1889 – July 31, 1953) was an American politician, lawyer, and scion of the Republican Party's Taft family. Taft represented Ohio in the United States Senate, briefly served as Senate Majority Leade ...

and

Charles P. Taft II Charles Phelps Taft II (September 20, 1897 – June 24, 1983) was a U.S. Republican Party politician and member of the Taft family. From 1955 to 1957, he served as Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. Like other members of his family, Taft was a Republ ...

, sons of former President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

, joined the older firm to become Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. In 1947, the firm's labor department, led by J. Mack Swigert, was instrumental in helping Robert Taft, who had become a

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

, draft and pass the groundbreaking

Taft–Hartley Act The Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, better known as the Taft–Hartley Act, is a Law of the United States, United States federal law that restricts the activities and power of trade union, labor unions. It was enacted by the 80th United S ...

that regulated

labor unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (su ...

. More recently, the firm is known for its work representing West Virginians in the environmental litigation against

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

beginning in the 1990s, which was the subject of the 2019 film Dark Waters. Since the 1980s, the firm's expansion beyond Cincinnati has been accomplished with the aid of strategic mergers with local firms with its various branch offices, including Kelley, McCann, and Livingston of Cleveland in 2001, Sommer Barnard of Indianapolis in 2008, Kahn Kleinman of Cleveland in 2008, Chester, Wilcox, and Saxbe of Columbus in 2012, and Shefsky and Froelich of Chicago in 2014. On August 29, 2019, partners at Briggs & Morgan of Minneapolis voted to merge with Taft. The merger became effective January 1, 2020. In February 2021, Taft opened an office in Washington, DC. On December 31, 2022, Taft opened an office in Detroit, Michigan through a merger with Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss.

Practice areas

The firm's practice areas include business and finance, business restructuring, bankruptcy and creditor rights, domestic relations, employment, environmental, gaming, government contracts, health and life sciences, higher education, intellectual property, labor relations, litigation, pharmaceutical and life sciences litigation, private client, public finance, real estate, tax, technology services and more. Taft employs over 800 attorneys following its 2022 merger with Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss.

Notable attorneys

Robert Bilott Robert Bilott (born August 2, 1965) is an American environmental attorney from Cincinnati, Ohio. Bilott is known for the lawsuits against DuPont on behalf of plaintiffs injured by waste dumped in rural communities in West Virginia. Bilott has spe ...

, environmental lawyer *

John Cranley John Joseph Cranley (born February 28, 1974) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 69th Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio from 2013 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a member of the Cincinnati City Council and a partner ...

, Mayor of Cincinnati (2013–2022) * Peter Deegan, United States Attorney for the

Northern District of Iowa The United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa (in case citations, N.D. Iowa) has jurisdiction over fifty-two of Iowa's ninety-nine counties. It is subject to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (except for patent claims and ...

(2017–2021) * Virginia Emerson Hopkins, Senior U.S. District Judge for the

Northern District of Alabama The United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama (in case citations, N.D. Ala.) is a federal court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are ap ...

* Sarah Morrison, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio (2019–present) and Administrator for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (2016–2019) *

John B. Nalbandian John Baylor Nalbandian (born March 15, 1969) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was previously a partner in the Cincinnati office of Taft Stettinius & Hollister. Biography Nalba ...

, U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit *

Caleb Nelson Caleb E. Nelson (born September 15, 1966) is the Emerson G. Spies Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. Early life and education Nelson is the son of David Aldrich Nelson, a former judge on the United Stat ...

, Emerson G. Spies Distinguished Professor of Law at the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

Charles Phelps Taft II Charles Phelps Taft II (September 20, 1897 – June 24, 1983) was a U.S. Republican Party politician and member of the Taft family. From 1955 to 1957, he served as Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. Like other members of his family, Taft was a Republ ...

, Mayor of Cincinnati (1955–1957) *

Charles R. Saxbe Charles Rockwell Saxbe (born November 2, 1946) is an attorney in Ohio and former American politician of the Republican Party. He is the son of former U.S. Attorney General and Senator William B. Saxbe. Early life and education Saxbe was born ...

, former member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in Ch ...

(1975-1982) and 1982 Republican candidate for Ohio Attorney General *

, U.S. Senator from Ohio (1939–1953) * Robert Taft Jr., U.S. Senator from Ohio (1971–1976), U.S. Representative from Ohio (1963–1965; 1967–1971)

References

External links

*
Organizational Profile on the National Law Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taft Stettinius and Hollister LLP * Law firms based in Cincinnati Law firms established in 1885 1885 establishments in Ohio