Baker Donelson is not only the Bluff City's largest law firm, but also one of its oldest.
It was just after the Civil War when Joseph B. Heiskell relocated his law practice from Madisonville, Tennessee, to Memphis, naming it Heiskell and White. Over the next 100 years the Firm went through transformative change and a number of local mergers and combinations, including the 1964 merger with the Donelson Adams firm, which had been founded by Lewis Donelson III and Ben C. Adams. This evolutionary process culminated in a 1994 merger with Baker Worthington, giving the combined firm new offices in Knoxville, Nashville, Johnson City and Washington, D.C., and bringing in the distinguished Senator Howard H. Baker, Jr. and Robert F. Worthington.
Today the Memphis and East Memphis offices boast a total of more than 90 attorneys. Downtown offers particular strength in complex business litigation, financial services, banking and securities, health care and corporate legal services to local and national clients. East Memphis focuses on tax and estate planning, real estate and intellectual property. Significant portions of Baker Donelson's Firmwide support functions also reside in Memphis, including human resources, information technology, accounting and marketing.
While we work to promote a true client-focused environment, our attorneys and staff are also known for their deep commitment to the Memphis community and their leadership in community service. Shareholder Buck Lewis helped launch Access to Justice to provide access to legal assistance for Tennessee's indigent and working poor families, a program which is currently expanding into a national program. In addition to the thousands of hours our Memphis attorneys provide in free legal services every year, our attorneys and staff also volunteer for and serve in leadership positions for dozens of local non-profit organizations.