Faegre Baker Daniels

Faegre Baker Daniels focuses on client service and results, with the following core values paramount and guiding us in all that we do:

• Honesty and integrity
• Excellence
• Hard work
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Mutual respect and firm mindedness
• Diversity and inclusion
• Service to our communities

These core values play a critical role in the firm's vision statement, which captures the aspirations of Faegre Baker Daniels as an organization. The firm's vision statement declares:

We will set ourselves apart in an increasingly competitive marketplace by continually innovating to improve client service; providing a unique, inclusive and rewarding experience for all our professionals; enhancing our national and international reputation; and promoting our key sources of competitive advantage: excellence, teamwork, industry focus and value delivered. We will add talent, invest and expand in a manner that fulfills these objectives.

Faegre Baker Daniels expanded its global reach on January 1, 2012, through a combination of two firms—Faegre & Benson and Baker & Daniels—with similar histories, cultures and shared values. Today, Faegre Baker Daniels builds upon the existing strengths and shared values to create a combined organization that can deliver more value to its clients than either could on its own.

Baker & Daniels

Baker & Daniels' roots date back to 1863 when Thomas Hendricks, a successful practicing lawyer in Indianapolis and later Vice President of the United States under Grover Cleveland, decided that he needed a partner when his workload became too large for one attorney to handle. Hendricks selected Oscar Hord, a former Indiana Attorney General, and the firm was named Hendricks & Hord.

Two years later, Samuel E. Perkins, previously a judge with the Indiana Supreme Court, joined the firm, which then became Hendricks, Perkins & Hord. Perkins withdrew from the firm in 1866, and Hendricks & Hord added Abram Hendricks, a cousin of Thomas Hendricks and son of Indiana's third Governor, William Hendricks. Subsequently, the firm was renamed Hendricks, Hord & Hendricks.

Thomas Hendricks was elected Indiana Governor in 1872. When he assumed the Statehouse chair in 1873, Conrad Baker took Hendricks' chair in the law office, and the firm became Baker, Hord & Hendricks. Albert Baker, the son of Conrad Baker, and Edward Daniels joined the firm in 1876 and 1879, respectively.

Between 1885 and 1888, Thomas Hendricks, Conrad Baker, Abram Hendricks and Oscar Hord passed away. With the deaths of the senior partners, Albert Baker and Edward Daniels assumed responsibility for the operation of the office known as Baker, Hord & Hendricks. By the end of 1888, the firm's name was changed to Baker & Daniels. Joseph Daniels, son of Edward Daniels, joined the firm after receiving his law degree in 1914, and the firm continued to grow with the addition of William Seagle, Warrack Wallace and William Davis. To reflect the changes, the firm's name underwent yet another change to Baker, Daniels, Wallace & Seagle. It remained so until 1944, when the name was restored to Baker & Daniels.

Through the years, Baker & Daniels expanded to better serve its clients. In 1976, the firm established an office in Washington, D.C. The Fort Wayne office opened in 1983. Two years later, Baker & Daniels created a subsidiary company in Washington, D.C.—Sagamore Associates, which later became B&D Sagamore, to assist clients with federal relations issues.

In the 1990s, Baker & Daniels continued to expand. The South Bend office opened in 1990, followed by the Elkhart office in 1993. In 1998, the future of Baker & Daniels took an exciting new direction when the firm's first overseas office was opened in China. Baker & Daniels created a second subsidiary company called Capitol Direct (which later became B&D Quorum). This D.C.-based company assisted clients through grassroots advocacy, direct marketing and public affairs efforts.

In 2000, Baker & Daniels opened its 96th Street office in Indianapolis. In addition, a new Baker & Daniels subsidiary was founded—Aventor, a global medical technology consulting firm. At the start of 2006, merging the people and practices of Aventor, B&D Quorum and B&D Sagamore into one company, B&D Consulting, assured an integrated, comprehensive approach to meeting clients' challenges and goals.

As part of a long-term growth strategy, Baker & Daniels consolidated its practices in North Central Indiana into a regional model in 2007 by transferring operations in Elkhart to the South Bend office. Also in 2007, B&D Consulting expanded its national services to the property tax industry with the addition of the B&D Equity Property Tax Group in Chicago. Baker & Daniels expanded its presence in Chicago with the opening of a new law office in 2008.

Faegre & Benson

In 1886, Faegre & Benson was founded in Minneapolis as Cobb & Wheelwright. Former classmates at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, Albert Cobb and John Wheelwright opened the law office after graduating from Bowdoin and completing a course of study in law. John Benson, a former clerk for Cobb & Wheelwright, joined the firm in 1914.

In 1923, George Hoke, Claude Krause and John Barthell Faegre joined the firm, which was renamed Cobb, Wheelwright Hoke & Benson. Following the accidental death of Wheelwright in 1927, the firm became Cobb, Hoke, Benson, Krause & Faegre. The firm established itself as a pre-eminent corporate player in the Upper Midwest.

Faegre and Benson, who first met in 1909 as opposing players in a college football game, became up-and-coming leaders of the firm. When Hoke and two associates departed in 1938, the firm was reorganized as Faegre, Benson & Krause. On the death of Krause the following year, it became Faegre & Benson in 1940.

Over the next 20 years, Faegre & Benson prospered but grew only modestly. Recognizing that a more competitive environment was emerging, firm lawyers pushed for change. In 1959, a five-member management committee was created with full power to oversee the firm. With the change, significant achievements included successful recruitment of new lawyers in their 30s and installation of a confidential compensation based on merit and individual contributions.

By the mid-1980s, the firm's clients were embracing technology, looking at international markets for their products and establishing in-house legal departments. Global mergers and acquisitions were resulting in client turnover as companies were folded into large multinational corporations. Venture capital was edging out investment banking as the growth industry.

Determined to keep pace with clients, the firm assessed its geographic reach and the relevance of its practices and business model—and adapted to the changing environment. Evolution came in the form of personal computers, new emphasis on diversity, addition of professional staff and the admittance of women into the partnership.

New practices emerged in areas such as health care, intellectual property and mass tort. Faegre & Benson opened Colorado offices in Boulder and Denver in 1985. In 1990, Faegre & Benson became the first national law firm to establish an office in Des Moines, Iowa. Then, the firm opened an office in London in 1995 and an office in Shanghai in 2001.

Our lawyers and professionals in Client Technology Solutions (CTS) support and deliver process- and technology-intensive solutions for our clients' legal work—with a principal focus on litigation, discovery support, electronic data handling, and process management. E-Discovery lawyers act as firm-wide litigation counsel, providing insight about E-Discovery issues and emerging law, while legal project managers, E‑Discovery consultants, and data and document analysts in CTS work with our clients to identify, preserve, collect, process, produce and review the electronically stored information (ESI) required in discovery. We identify cost-effective solutions for clients and manage the implementation of those solutions.

Electronic Discovery Counseling and Consulting

CTS professionals serve as liaisons between legal teams and clients' information technology personnel. CTS counsels clients through, and can fully conduct, the E-Discovery portion of the discovery cycle. Services include specialized expertise in litigation readiness, E-Discovery motion practice and records-information management, and advising on identification, preservation, collection and logistical approaches.

Electronically Stored Information (ESI) Processing

CTS transform raw ESI into usable data for review. We conduct targeted collections, then analyze, search, and cull data to keep the document universe manageable and avoid unnecessary expense.

Document Review and Document Production

CTS manage document review projects of any size. Expert document review managers use proven protocols to ensure accurate and cost-effective reviews—whether the review is performed by our firm, an external provider in the U.S. or an offshore provider. CTS professionals prepare and produce ESI in an efficient and usable format to reduce cost, risk and errors and to comply with production specifications and timelines.

Pre-Trial, Trial and Presentation Support

CTS assist our legal teams in preparation of document sets, witness kits and deposition designations. We support the management of witness transcripts with LiveNote and other software. We create electronic redactions and electronically linked briefs. Our trial consultants manage nearly every aspect of technology during hearings, arbitrations, mediations and trials. Our graphics team translates the trial team's message into compelling visual presentations that our trial consultants deliver in the courtroom.

Legal Project Management

CTS adapt project management to the legal environment to coordinate and deliver cost-effective solutions. We emphasize early needs assessment; development of goals, work plans, and budgets with our clients; project communication and problem-solving; and adherence to budget. We deliver integrated results whether tasks are performed by our team or through an external provider.

Legal Process Management

CTS uses Six Sigma and Lean methodologies to examine, simplify and document steps in legal service processes. We apply these capabilities on behalf of our clients in matter- and project-specific situations, constantly seeking to increase internal work process efficiency.