Firm History

Our roots can be traced to attorney and art collector John G. Johnson, the most prominent and influential Philadelphia lawyer of the late 19th Century. Mr. Johnson tried 182 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and practiced law until his death in 1917, whereupon he bequeathed his collection of more than 1,200 paintings to the citizens of Philadelphia. Despite his death, attorneys who practiced under the esteemed Mr. Johnson continued to work together and founded in 1921 the genesis of what has evolved to become the present-day Saul Ewing LLP.

Since 1921, Saul Ewing has grown from four lawyers in one office in Philadelphia to more than 250 lawyers in nine offices in five states and the District of Columbia. Remarkably, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts is the Firm's oldest client, having been with the Firm since 1921. Over the years, the Firm has served many of the region's most important businesses and institutions through the terms of 16 presidents of the United States and six wars, during a period in our history when the Mid-Atlantic region has been transformed from an industrial center to the world's leading area for knowledge, healthcare and technology.

It is a period in which our lawyers and staff have seen typewriters morph into computers, rotary telephones into cell phones, and the World Wide Web accessible to them in hand-held BlackBerries. Saul Ewing is proud to have grown and been transformed with the region it serves.

In 2006, Saul Ewing celebrated its 85th anniversary. Click to view an INTERACTIVE TIMELINE commemorating the Firm's years from 1921 to 2006. (Macromedia Flash 6 or newer required.)