Foley & Lardner milestones

Few if any entities encompass the sweep of Milwaukee’s economic history like the law firm of Foley & Lardner LLP. Some milestones:

1842: Asahel Finch and William Pitt Lynde create the law partnership of Finch & Lynde in Milwaukee.

1848: Wisconsin becomes a state. The first telegraph lines reach Milwaukee and telegraph companies quickly become clients.

1848: Lynde is elected as one of Wisconsin’s first U.S. House members.

1848: Finch, father of two daughters, helps charter Milwaukee Female Seminary, precursor to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

1850: The Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad has its inaugural run. Finch serves as board director.

1852: Finch and Lynde incorporate the Milwaukee Gas Co., which they help run.

1882: Partner Benjamin Miller incorporates the Milwaukee Telephone Co. as charter stockholder, later renamed Wisconsin Bell.

1901: Schlitz surpasses Pabst as the nation’s biggest brewery; both are Finch & Lynde clients.

1969: The firm adopts the name Foley & Lardner LLP and launches a succession of acquisitions to become a national law firm.

1984: Foley acts as strategist in the development of Aurora Health Care System, which would become Wisconsin’s largest health care provider.

1998: Milwaukee native Bud Selig, commissioner of Major League Baseball, chooses a Foley & Lardner attorney as the sport's chief legal officer and executive vice president for administration.

Sources: “Foley & Lardner: Attorneys at Law, 1842-1992” (Ellen Langill; 1992); Milwaukee Road Archives of the Milwaukee Public Library; Foley & Lardner LLP; Journal Sentinel research