WolfBlock LLP (formerly Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-CohenFirm history
/ref>) was a large U.S.

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise consumer, clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and Obligation, respon ...

and

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

group based in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. The ''

National Law Journal ''The National Law Journal'' (NLJ) is an American legal periodical founded in 1978. The NLJ was created by Jerry Finkelstein, who envisioned it as a "sibling newspaper" of the ''New York Law Journal''. Originally a tabloid-sized weekly new ...

'' ranked WolfBlock the 149th-largest firm in the United States, and the 10th-largest in Philadelphia, by number of attorneys. The firm was known for being one of the oldest law firms in Philadelphia.

History

WolfBlock was founded in 1903 by

Horace Stern Horace Stern (August 7, 1878 – April 15, 1969) was the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1 November 1952 to 29 December 1956. He became chief justice after serving on the court from 6 January 1936. Biography Stern was ...

and Morris Wolf. Stern would go on to work for the

United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, als ...

, and would go on to serve as Chief Justice of the

Pennsylvania Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as the "Supreme Court" of Pennsylvania were made offici ...

. One of the firm's first major clients was the

Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company The Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) was the main public transport, public transit operator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1940 to 1968. A Privately held company, private company, PTC was the successor to the Philadelphia Rapid Tr ...

, one of the predecessors of

SEPTA SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...

. The firm gradually expanded, and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, acquired several smaller firms, becoming a sizable regional firm.

Bernard Wolfman Bernard Wolfman (July 8, 1924 – August 20, 2011) was the Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School as well as its Gemmill Professor of Tax Law and Tax Policy, and the Fessenden Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Biography Wolfman ...

, later Dean of the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Carey Law, or Penn Law; previously University of Pennsylvania Law School) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Phi ...

, was the managing partner of the firm from 1961 to 1963. In 2002, the firm established a lobbying

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

, WolfBlock Government Relations L.P., in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

. The subsidiary was expanded into

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

the following year.

Collapse

Failed merger attempt

WolfBlock's management had planned a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

with the 500+ lawyer

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

-based law firm of Akerman Senterfitt, which would have created a single 800-lawyer firm. But on August 7, 2008, the two firms released a joint statement explaining that the merger had been put on hold due to "a client conflict that cannot be discussed publicly".

Dissolution

On March 23, 2009, the firm's partners voted for an orderly unwinding and dissolution of the firm, due in part to difficulties the firm was having in continuing its

line of credit A line of credit is a credit facility extended by a bank or other financial institution to a government, business or individual customer that enables the customer to draw on the facility when the customer needs funds. A financial institution ...

with

Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...

. In a press release, the firm announced:

WolfBlock will remain in the practice of law for several months to protect the interests of its clients, employees and creditors. The decision to unwind was reached in view of a confluence of unfavorable factors: the economic recession, especially in the firm's core real estate practice; the constriction of credit occasioned by the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
; and the intended and anticipated departure of significant partners and practices.

Practice areas

In addition to its lobbying practice, the firm had practice groups in

corporate A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as "born out of s ...

securities law Securities regulation in the United States is the field of U.S. law that covers transactions and other dealings with securities. The term is usually understood to include both federal and state-level regulation by governmental regulatory agencie ...

health law Health law is a field of law that encompasses federal, state, and local law, rules, regulations and other jurisprudence among providers, payers and vendors to the health care industry and its patients, and delivery of health care services, with a ...

, labor and employment,

employee benefits Employee benefits and benefits in kind (especially in British English), also called fringe benefits, perquisites, or perks, include various types of non-wage compensation provided to an employee by an employer in addition to their normal wage o ...

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriag ...

, real estate &

land use Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: fo ...

environmental law Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment. The term "environmental law" encompasses treaties, statutes, regulations, conventions, and policies designed to protect the natural environment and manage the impact of human activitie ...

structured finance Structured finance is a sector of finance — specifically financial law — that manages Leverage (finance), leverage and Financial risk, risk. Strategies may involve legal and corporate restructuring, off balance sheet accounting, or the use of ...

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

and

creditors' rights A creditor or lender is a party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property ...

tax law Tax law or revenue law is an area of legal study in which public or sanctioned authorities, such as federal, state and municipal governments (as in the case of the US) use a body of rules and procedures (laws) to assess and collect taxes in a ...

estate planning Estate planning is the process of anticipating and arranging for the management and disposal of a person's Estate (law), estate during the person's life in preparation for future incapacity or death. The planning includes the bequest of assets to ...

energy law Energy laws govern the use and taxation of energy, both renewable and non-renewable. These laws are the primary authorities (such as caselaw, statutes, rules, regulations and edicts) related to energy. In contrast, energy policy refers to ...

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

, and

construction law Construction law is a branch of law that deals with matters relating to building construction, engineering, and related fields. It is in essence an amalgam of contract law, commercial law, planning law, employment law and tort. Construction law co ...

Notable lawyers and alumni

William J. Green, III William Joseph Green III (born June 24, 1938) is an American politician from Pennsylvania. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Green served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1964 to 1977 and as the Mayor of Philadelphia, 94th M ...

, former

Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

and

mayor of Philadelphia The mayor of Philadelphia is the chief executive of the government of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Philadelphia. The current mayor of Philadelphia is Cherelle Parker, who is the first woman to hold the ...

* Howard Gittis, personal attorney for billionaire

Ronald Perelman Ronald Owen Perelman (; born January 1, 1943) is an American banker, businessman, investor, and philanthropist. MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, his company, has invested in companies with interests in groceries, cigars, licorice, makeup, ca ...

Michael F. Gerber Michael F. "Mike" Gerber (born May 25, 1972) is a former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the 148th Legislative District from 2005 to 2012. Gerber is currently a partner and Chief Corporate Affairs O ...

, member of the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

for Pennsylvania's 148th Legislative District, was an associate in the firm's Philadelphia office.Gerber's firm bio
/ref> * Alan Kaplinsky *

Wendell Pritchett Wendell Eric Pritchett is an American legal scholar and academic. He is currently the James S. Riepe Presidential Professor of Law and Education at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. From February to June 2022, Pritchett served as interim ...

, Chancellor of

Rutgers University–Camden Rutgers University–Camden is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. It is located in Camden, New Jersey. Founded in 1926 as the South Jersey Law ...

, Interim Dean and Presidential Professor at the

, and Provost of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

* Jerome J. Shestack *

* Faith Ryan Whittlesey, Ambassador to Switzerland and Assistant to President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

for Public Liaison

References

External links

How Wolf Block imploded
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfblock Law firms established in 1903 Defunct law firms of the United States Law firms disestablished in 2009 Defunct companies based in Pennsylvania Lobbying firms based in Pennsylvania 1903 establishments in Pennsylvania 2009 disestablishments in Pennsylvania