Hall Estill
| Headquarters | Tulsa |
|---|---|
| No. of offices | 4 |
| No. of attorneys | 150 |
| Major practice areas | Antitrust, corporate, labor & employment, energy, oil & gas, intellectual property, litigation, Native American law, real estate, regulatory, restructuring/bankruptcy, and tax |
| Date founded | 1966 |
| Company type | Professional corporation |
| Website | www.hallestill.com |
Hall Estill is an American law firm headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma with additional offices in Oklahoma City, Northwest Arkansas, and Denver, Colorado. Hall Estill ranks among the 400 largest U.S. law firms by domestic attorney headcount.[1] In 2015, Law360 recognized Hall Estill for having the fourth-highest percentage of minority partners among America's large and mid-size law firms and named the firm as one of the "50 Best Firms for Minority Partners."[2]
Hall Estill is currently headquartered in Santa Fe Square at 521 East 2nd Street, Suite 1200 in downtown Tulsa. The Oklahoma City office is located in BancFirst Tower
History
[edit]In 1966, Harvard Law School graduate Walter Hall founded the firm now known as Hall Estill in response to a request for outside counsel made by the Tulsa-based Williams Companies (today a Fortune 500 energy company).[3]
In 1980, Hall Estill attorneys represented defendant Worldwide Volkswagen in the landmark personal jurisdiction case World-Wide Volkswagen Corp v. Woodson, which was ultimately decided in the defendant's favor by the U.S. Supreme Court.[4]
In 1996, Hall Estill partner Judith Colbert became the first minority woman partner of a large law firm in Oklahoma history.[5]
In 2010, Hall Estill attorneys successfully defended noted author John Grisham in claims arising from his book The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, later turned into a Netflix documentary series.[6] In 2014, Hall Estill represented country music singer Garth Brooks in a highly-publicized lawsuit in which Brooks challenged an Oklahoma hospital's use of what the court deemed to be a restricted donation.[7]
In 2017, political scientist Adam Feldman identified Hall Estill as one of the four law firms that had appeared most frequently in front of recently-appointed U.S. Supreme Justice Neil Gorsuch during his time on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.[8]
Growth and expansion
[edit]Hall Estill opened its second office in 1986 in Oklahoma City.[9] In 1997, Hall Estill opened its first Northwest Arkansas office in Fayetteville, Arkansas, staffed with attorneys lured away from the Rose Law Firm (where Hillary Clinton practiced).[10] In 2016 Hall Estill opened its Denver office, initially focusing on oil and gas and transactional work.[11]
Hall Estill has on occasion grown through mergers and acquisitions. In 2000, Hall Estill acquired Nichols Wolfe, a Tulsa corporate law firm founded in 1965.[12] In 2018, Tulsa corporate and litigation law firm Newton, O'Connor, Turner & Ketchum merged with the larger Hall Estill.[13]
Notable attorneys and firm alumni
[edit]- William Bernhardt, author of best-selling legal thrillers[14]
- Claire Eagan, Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma[15] and Judge for the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
- John F. Heil III, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, and the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
- John M. O'Connor, Attorney General of Oklahoma
- Ross Swimmer, former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation; Special Trustee for American Indians at the U.S. Department of the Interior
- Edward L. Weidenfeld, former member of the Council for the Administrative Conference of the United States and counsel to the Reagan-Bush Campaign; also served as U.S. counsel for the government of South Africa after Nelson Mandela's election[16]
- Lee Roy West, Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma[17]
- Ronald A. White, Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma[18]
References
[edit]- ^ Violante, Cristina (24 March 2016). "Law360 Reveals 400 Largest US Firms". Law360. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ Schaefer, Ralph (23 June 2015). "Hall Estill enriched by diverse backgrounds". Tulsa World. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ Schaefer, Ralph (16 May 2016). "Hall Estill firm strong, growing 50 years later". Tulsa World. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ Adams, Charles W. (1993). "World-Wide Volkswagen v. Woodson-The Rest of the Story". Nebraska Law Review. 72: 1122.
- ^ "Law Firm Shareholder". Ebony. No. August 1996.
- ^ "Peterson v. Grisham (10th Cir.)". Findlaw. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
- ^ Hawthorne, Fran (6 November 2014). "When a Donation Steers Off Course". New York Times. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ Feldman, Adam (1 February 2017). "Judge Gorsuch by the Numbers". Empirical SCOTUS. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
- ^ Rutherford, Dan (1 June 1996). "State's Law Firms Late to Embrace Branch Craze". Tulsa World. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ "Law Firm Opens Fayetteville Office news", North West Arkansas Business Journal, 14 July 1997, retrieved 10 April 2018
- ^ Proctor, Cathy (20 April 2016). "Oklahoma law firm setting up shop in Denver". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ Stancavage, John (1 June 2006). "Hall Estill Acquiring Firm". Tulsa World. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ "Newsmaker: Hall Estill merger to be complete April 2". Tulsa World. 23 March 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ Watts, James D. (30 December 1991). "Tulsan's novel gets attention". Tulsa World. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ McGuigan, Patrick (27 January 2002). "On Judge Egan's Middle Name". Daily Oklahoman. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ Sulzberger, A.O. (26 December 1978). "Less Price-Rule Advice". New York Times. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ Ehrling, John. "Judge Lee Roy West Interview" (PDF). Voices of Oklahoma. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ "Tulsa attorney now a federal judge". KOTV News. 30 September 2003. Retrieved 22 March 2018.