SPECIAL REPORT: Law Firm Helped Make Case for L.A.

0

From its launch in 1885, law firm O’Melveny & Myers has been intimately connected with growth and development in Los Angeles.

When Jackson A. Graves and Henry O’Melveny co-founded the firm in the late 19th century, Los Angeles was more a quiet frontier town than the sprawling metropolis it is today.

Much of the firm’s early work focused on titles and real estate, with most of its clients being landowners, said Seth Aronson, a partner and former managing partner of O’Melveny’s downtown office.

“Back in 1885, Los Angeles was a sleepy pueblo,” Aronson said. “It was muddy streets and a few thousand English-speaking settlers.”

In the modern era, the firm has become known for its work in entertainment and mergers and acquisitions. O’Melveny has 700 lawyers and 15 offices worldwide; it generated $725 million in revenue last year.

The firm landed a game-changing account in 1891: William Kerckhoff and his energy companies, which were instrumental in bringing natural gas and hydroelectric power to Los Angeles, Aronson said.

Entertainment became a larger piece of its practice in the 1930s, when O’Melveny began representing stars such as Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman, and William Holden in contract negotiations with movie studios.

Louis W. Myers joined the firm after leaving the California Supreme Court, where he served as chief justice from 1924 to 1926. The firm underwent nine name changes, before being permanently changed to O’Melveny & Myers in 1939. Founding Partner Henry O’Melveny died in 1941.

In the 1950s, the law firm represented Walter O’Malley as he moved the Dodgers to Los Angeles from Brooklyn, and represented the team during its legal battle to build Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine.

The firm began a period of expansion in the 1970s, opening a Century City office in 1970 to better serve clients in the entertainment industry, Aronson said. It expanded to Washington, D.C., in 1976 and opened up a New York office in 1983. The firm also began to expand internationally in the ’80s, opening its first international office in London in 1986. It has since opened multiple outposts abroad, the most recent in Seoul, South Korea, in 2012.

As in its early days, the firm remains involved with infrastructure projects that impact Los Angeles. O’Melveny represented Long Beach and Los Angeles in the 1989 formation of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, which links the ports with the intercontinental rail system.

After the 1992 Rodney King riots, the city of Los Angeles convened an independent commission to examine the structure and operations of the Los Angeles Police Department and to recommend reforms to it. Warren Christopher, a partner at the firm and future secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, headed the commission. A team of lawyers from O’Melveny, along with lawyers from other firms, volunteered for the commission, Aronson said.

“The Christopher Commission had a tremendous effect on the city of Los Angeles,” he said. “This was not a courtroom victory, but it revamped the way Los Angeles hired, fired, and disciplined officers.”

Recently, O’Melveny has successfully argued a number of high-profile cases in the entertainment industry.

The firm represented Warner Bros. and its subsidiary DC Comics in a copyright battle with the heirs of Superman creator Jerry Siegel, culminating with the studio being given full rights to the character.

JP Motley, managing partner of the downtown office, said entertainment remains a strong component of the firm’s practice and is one that increasingly touches on other departments, such as litigation and intellectual property protection. In recent years, O’Melveny has expanded into more midmarket work as well, particularly in the tech industry; it has had a Silicon Valley office since 2000.

That ability to evolve with the changing market is one of the firm’s strengths, Motley said, but so is its community service.

Last year, 90 percent of O’Melveny’s lawyers did pro bono work, donating more than 60,000 hours, and the firm has given out more than 400 college scholarships to L.A.-area students over the past 20 years, he said.

“It’s something we’re proud of, and I honestly think it’s why we’ve been around for 130 years,” Motley said. “People see that we’re giving back to the community. Our clients like that.”

Staff reporter Paul Eakins contributed to this report.

No posts to display