In the beginning, lawyer Henry O’Melveny helped resolve disputes over Southern California land, representing heirs to such L.A. pioneers as Jose Diego Sepulveda and Augustin Olvera.
That was the early work of what is now O’Melveny & Myers LLP. Celebrating its 125th anniversary this month, the law firm long ago became the largest in Los Angeles and has grown into an international powerhouse with 1,000 lawyers who practice in 14 offices worldwide.
But attorneys who work there said the firm’s connection to L.A. history continues to play a significant role today.
Warren Christopher remembers when he joined O’Melveny in 1950, William Clary, a senior partner, was writing a history of the firm.
“He would tell me wonderful stories about the people and cases from the past,” said Christopher, now a senior partner, during a recent interview with the Business Journal in his Century City office. “Through him, I came to understand how the history of the firm is so deeply intertwined with the history of Los Angeles.”
Indeed, the firm represented agricultural concerns back when they dominated the local economy. Later, it played a role in the legal concerns of actors and studios as the entertainment industry grew. O’Melveny also worked with aerospace companies as that industry boomed, and even helped Walter O’Malley move the Dodgers to Los Angeles.
As the firm helped define the city, the city defined the firm.
“O’Melveny was and is entrepreneurial,” said Arthur “A.B.” Culvahouse, who has served as chairman of the firm since 2001. “I think by virtue of having grown up in and with Los Angeles, it fosters a frontier spirit and relative willingness to change.”
Culvahouse, a Washington lawyer known for his role as a Republican Party powerbroker – he was part of Arizona Sen. John McCain’s search team for vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin – is the first chairman in the firm’s history to sit outside of Los Angeles.
Losing ‘L.A.-ness’?
Indeed, the fact that O’Melveny’s chairman is in Washington is a sign of how the firm is changing. Some former partners and consultants have said the big law firm has de-emphasized its traditional L.A.-focused work and is stressing an international presence. It’s emphasizing financial transaction work, which is fundamentally an East Coast specialty. In so doing, the firm is losing its L.A.-ness, some say.
But Culvahouse said O’Melveny’s expansion into other geogrpahic regions and practice areas, such as East Coast-centric private equity and funds formation – bringing together capital for big projects – has contributed to the firm’s success.
“It’s not our goal to maintain the L.A. flavor,” Culvahouse said. “Our goal and our aspirations are to maintain the values and attitude that made us successful in Los Angeles and carry that over to practices and clients that we serve.”
Christopher – firm partners call him “Chris” – has been a key factor not only in maintaining the firm’s ties to Los Angeles, but also expanding the firm internationally. The 84-year-old remains a senior partner at O’Melveny, still coming into the office every day to advise clients on matters, and to offer his wisdom on firm business and beyond.
When Carla Christofferson, managing partner of O’Melveny’s downtown L.A. office, was planning to buy the Los Angeles Sparks with business partner Kathy Goodman, she turned to Christopher for advice.
“He always encouraged me to get involved in Los Angeles in general because he feels it’s important for our attorneys to be involved in every aspect of Los Angeles,” Christofferson said. “And I went to him and I said, ‘This is how I can make a difference to Los Angeles’ and he thought about it and said, ‘That makes sense. That’s perfect for you.’”
Richard Riordan, former mayor of Los Angeles who also started his legal career at O’Melveny, said the firm helped shaped the city in numerous ways.
“There was nothing that happened in Los Angeles of any meaning that someone from O’Melveny was not involved with from the beginning,” Riordan said.
O’Melveny is L.A.’s oldest surviving law firm but not the city’s oldest company. Ducommun Inc., now an aerospace parts maker in Carson, was founded in 1849, and the Los Angeles Daily Times, predecessor to the Los Angeles Times, started in 1881.
125 years ago
When Jackson A. Graves and Henry W. O’Melveny founded Graves & O’Melveny in 1885 along Baker Block on Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, the firm began to handle much of the land title work that transformed Los Angeles from a Mexican pueblo to a bustling city, and its attorneys represented the likes of Isaac Newton Van Nuys, James B. Lankershim and Title Insurance Co.
“Back in 1885, Los Angeles was a horse and buggy town,” said Seth Aronson, a member of the firm’s joint leadership team and former managing partner of its downtown L.A. office. “And our firm was there from the beginning and grew.”
Henry O’Melveny said that his most significant work was representing William Kerckhoff beginning in 1891. The firm helped the businessman develop methods to harness hydroelectric power from the San Gabriel River, and the lakes and rivers of the San Joaquin Valley. That helped bring electricity to Los Angeles streetcars and manufacturing plants, greatly boosting its prospects.
In 1892, the firm began working for the Chino Valley Beet Sugar Co., later renamed the American Crystal Sugar Co., for representation in water litigation, labor matters and other issues. (The agricultural concern remained a client until the end: When the company closed its Chino and Oxnard factories in the late 1950s, O’Melveny served as counsel in the sale of the land to residential and industrial developers.)
Two-thirds of O’Melveny’s attorneys joined the military during World War I, and Henry O’Melveny promoted patriotic causes, encouraging L.A. residents to buy Liberty Bonds.
After the war, O’Melveny started developing its relationship with the entertainment industry. John O’Melveny, the son of the firm’s founder, became an expert in renegotiation of the contracts that studios used to sign their movie stars. Among the actors that John O’Melveny handled were Mary Pickford, Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman, William Holden and Gene Autry.
When the Great Depression hit in 1929, O’Melveny prospered as a result of the bankruptcy-related work the firm handled for its clients, including Guaranty Building and Loan Association, Paramount Pictures and Fox West Coast Theaters.
The firm changed names nine times before becoming O’Melveny & Myers in 1939; and leadership voted to make the name permanent.
When founder Henry O’Melveny died in 1941, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner noted: “It is seldom indeed that the life of one man can be so completely and intimately connected with the life of a great city.”
During World War II, the firm began working with the city’s manufacturing sector representing Lockheed, Northrop and Caltech on military-related matters.
Christopher had joined the firm in 1950, after clerking for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. Christopher, who was born in Scranton, N.D., said he opted to join O’Melveny because of the sense of optimism expressed by the firm’s partners.
“The tone of the place, the attitude of the partners, and their openness to someone who was coming here without any business or family connection is what persuaded me to come here,” he said. “It was very welcoming to me, and the firm has been my home ever since.”
As a young associate, Christopher worked under Clary, but also developed strong relationships with John O’Melveny and other senior attorneys at the firm.
In the 1950s, the firm helped Walter O’Malley bring the Brooklyn Dodgers from New York to Los Angeles. O’Melveny represented the Dodgers in its dealings with the city, ultimately winning an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court that enabled the team to build Dodger Stadium at Chavez Ravine. O’Melveny also advised Jack Kent Cooke when he acquired the Lakers in 1965, and handled the legal issues related to development of the Forum.
Christopher took leave to serve as deputy attorney general under President Johnson. His appointment helped the firm develop connections to Washington – even though O’Melveny was historically a Republican stronghold and Christopher was a Democrat.
“I was one of the first Democrats in the office, but I always felt warm and welcomed,” Christopher said. “John O’Melveny always encouraged me to be active in politics and do what I thought was best for the country and the firm.”
O’Melveny opened its Century City office in 1970, which only helped its connection to the nearby entertainment industry.
“When I was a young associate, it was not unusual to see in the lobby Jimmy Stewart or Shirley Temple,” said Joseph Calabrese, former managing partner at the office who joined the firm in 1981. “These people were around the office all the time, and as this kid from New Jersey, I was fascinated by it.”
O’Melveny opened its Washington office in 1976. Christopher had rejoined the firm in Los Angeles, but took another leave to serve as deputy secretary of state under President Carter.
After Christopher returned to the firm for the third time, he became chairman in 1982 and served in that position until 1992, when he left to serve as secretary of state under President Clinton from 1993 to 1997.
During Christopher’s term as chairman, O’Melveny became the first major law firm to construct its own high-rise, a 26-story skyscraper on Bunker Hill at 400 South Hope St. in 1984, and its downtown L.A. office remains there today.
In the aftermath of the Rodney King beating by police officers, Christopher headed an independent commission on the Los Angeles Police Department. The Christopher Commission instituted significant reforms to the LAPD.
International presence
The firm also established its presence on the international scene under Christopher’s chairmanship, and O’Melveny opened offices in New York, London, Tokyo and San Francisco during his tenure, and later in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China.
“Chris was always influential,” Culvahouse said. “He pushed us hard to position ourselves to be amongst the first wave of foreign law firms to open offices in mainland China.”
Amid its international expansion, the firm continued to handle matters key to L.A.’s economy. The firm represented Long Beach and Los Angeles in the formation of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, which administers the $2.4 billion, 20-mile freight rail corridor linking the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to the intercontinental rail system.
When Culvahouse became chairman in 2001, O’Melveny ramped up its efforts to become a player in the corporate world and the firm acquired private equity firm O’Sullivan LLP in 2002.
Some former O’Melveny attorneys have criticized the firm’s push into transactional work, as exemplified by the O’Sullivan acquisition. They dislike the change in culture, which they see as more profit-driven.
“I think they are dead wrong,” Culvahouse said in response, adding that O’Melveny has been able to strengthen its ties to Asia and develop other practice areas as a result of the acquisition.
“We used that to build out a private equity practice in Asia,” Culvahouse said, “which led to a capital markets practice in Asia.”
Still, some lament the change in culture.
“The firm is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, and as the first firm to be in Los Angeles, it has an L.A. culture and base,” said Alan Miles, principal of Santa Monica legal search firm Alan Miles and Associates Inc. “But it’s going through a transition now, it’s becoming more East Coast, hard core, bottom line, and that’s New York. Los Angeles is a little different.”
The firm enjoyed a surge in profitability in the middle part of the decade before drooping late in the decade. O’Melveny’s profits per partner increased 23 percent from $1.3 million in 2004 to $1.6 million in 2005. But the firm’s profits increased by less than 1 percent in 2005, and subsequent years have seen profits stagnate and then decline by 7 percent in 2008 and 3.3 percent in 2009. (The List of L.A.’s biggest law firms, including profits per partner, begins on page 23.)
Culvahouse said the firm is now focusing on better servicing its client base.
“We’ve really made a lot of investments in the last 10 years and we like where we are,” he said. “We need to double down and continue to knit the practice and client base together.”
Christopher attributes O’Melveny’s longevity to its ability to adapt to change and a desire to recruit the best lawyers.
“We were never prepared to stand pat with what we had,” Christopher said. “That, doubled with our willingness to readapt, made the difference.”
O’MELVENY TIMELINE
Key points in the history of L.A.’s oldest law firm.
1885: O’Melveny & Myers is founded as Graves & O’Melveny
1891: Founder Henry O’Melveny begins representing businessman William G. Kerckhoff, who pioneered hydroelectric power generation on the San Gabriel River and the San Joaquin Valley.
1957: The firm advises Walter O’Malley in moving the Dodgers from New York to Los Angeles, including stadium construction at Chavez Ravine.
1970: O’Melveny opens its Century City office.
1976: O’Melveny opens its office in Washington D.C.
1984: Under Chairman Warren Christopher, O’Melveny becomes the first law firm to build its own skyscraper.
1986: The firm opens an office in London, its first in another country.
1989: The firm represents the cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach in the creation of the Alameda Corridor. The 20-mile high-speed freight rail links the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach with the intercontinental rail system.
1993: O’Melveny veteran Christopher becomes Secretary of State under President Clinton.
1999: Staples Center opens after O’Melveny helped shepherd Anschutz Entertainment Group through years of controversy over the plan. The stadium anchors L.A. Live, downtown’s $2.5 billion entertainment complex.
