Baker & Daniels
Providing counsel to six generations of Hoosiers

by Bill Beck

(January 2002) - Baker & Daniels, one of the state's largest law firms, prides itself on both its legal expertise and its community involvement. In the almost 140 years since its founding in Indianapolis, the firm has provided counsel to six generations of Hoosier, national and-increasingly-international clients. It has also immersed itself in the political, social and economic life of Indiana.

The involvement of Baker & Daniels in the community is an element of its history that would perhaps surprise some people in Indianapolis, says Brian Burke, the firm's managing partner. But, Burke adds, "we ought to be in a position to give back, to augment our financial contributions to the community with contributions of the talent and effort" of the firm's personnel.

Burke ticks off the names of Baker & Daniels partners and their involvement in political and community life in Indiana. Pat Callahan is the chair of the Indy Partnership, while Fred Glass assists Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson. Joe Kimmell served as corporate counsel for the city of Fort Wayne, Rich Hill worked for Joe Kernan when he was mayor of South Bend, and Tom Bruner has been very active in South Bend city government.

Baker & Daniels has served as a home for such well-known Indiana politicians as Steve Goldsmith and Evan Bayh. "We have always had strong participation on both sides of the aisle," Burke says.

Indeed, that strong participation on both sides of the aisle literally goes back to day one at the Indianapolis firm. The law firm we know today as Baker & Daniels boasts a former Republican governor of Indiana and Democratic governor and vice president of the U.S. among its founders.

Baker & Daniels was founded by Thomas Andrew Hendricks in 1863, the year Indiana troops helped defeat the Confederacy at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain. Hendricks was born in 1819 near Zanesville, Ohio. He grew up in Shelby County, Indiana, and graduated from Hanover College in 1841. He attended a law school in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. In 1848, Hendricks was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives and then to the state Senate a year later. From 1863 to 1869, he served a term in the U.S. Senate. He was elected governor of Indiana in 1872, the first Democrat to be elected in a northern state during Reconstruction-after twice being defeated for the office. Hendricks was Grover Cleveland's running mate in 1884 and died only nine months after being sworn in as U.S. vice president.

Hendricks began his law practice in 1860 and worked alone until 1863, when the attorney general, Oscar B. Hord, joined him, creating the law firm of Hendricks & Hord. The firm's name changed to Hendricks, Perkins & Hord when Samuel E. Perkins, a former Indiana Supreme Court justice, joined in 1865. Perkins left the firm in 1866 but continued to practice law in Indiana. He was elected for another term on the Indiana Supreme Court in 1877.

Abram W. Hendricks, the cousin of Thomas Hendricks, was brought to the firm in 1867 after the departure of Perkins. The name changed to Hendricks, Hord & Hendricks. He remained there until his death in 1887, but the name remained only until 1872, when the name Baker was introduced.

Conrad Baker, the other co-founder, was born in 1817 in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He attended Pennsylvania College in Gettysburg and studied law in Pennsylvania before moving to Evansville in 1841 and beginning his own law practice. He served one term as a state representative from 1845 to 1846 and was a judge for the Court of Common Pleas for 18 months. Baker served for three years as a colonel in the 1st Indiana Cavalry during the Civil War. In 1863, Baker became assistant provost marshal general for the state of Indiana and moved to Indianapolis. Baker ran for lieutenant governor in 1865 with Oliver P. Morton, Indiana's Civil War governor, and served as acting governor for six months while Morton recovered from a stroke.

Baker became governor in 1867 on the Republican ticket when Morton was elected to the U.S. Senate, and in 1868 was elected for a full term as governor. After his term as governor, Baker entered into partnership with Hendricks, Hord & Hendricks. He replaced Thomas Hendricks, who succeeded him as governor. The firm's name was changed to Baker, Hord & Hendricks. Thomas Hendricks returned to the firm after his term as governor, but the name remained the same until 1889.

The firm's other namesake, Edward Daniels, was born in 1854 in Rockville. He attended Wabash College and was admitted to the firm in 1877, after studying for a year at the Columbia Law School. Daniels became one of the most respected lawyers in the state and died in 1918 at the age of 64.

Albert Baker, the son of Conrad Baker, joined the firm as a practicing lawyer in 1876 after attending Wabash College. He continued working there until his death in 1942.

In 1881, Albert Baker and Ed Daniels left Baker, Hord & Hendricks to form their own partnership. The parting was evidently amicable, because the two younger attorneys used the telephones in the Hord & Hendricks offices. This first firm of Baker & Daniels continued through 1883. After the deaths of Conrad Baker, Thomas Hendricks, Abram Hendricks and Oscar Hord, Albert Baker and Ed Daniels returned to the practice of Baker, Hord & Hendricks. They officially changed the firm's name to Baker & Daniels in 1888.

Joseph J. Daniels, son of Edward Daniels, was born in 1890. Also a graduate of Wabash College, he attended Harvard Law School, receiving his law degree in 1914. He then joined Baker & Daniels, but was drafted into the army in 1917. He was discharged in 1919 and returned to the firm. Although he held no public office like some of the firm's predecessor attorneys, Joe Daniels was always active in Indiana politics. For years, Joe Daniels was the Eleventh District chairman and a member of the Republican State Committee. He was also a trusted advisor of Gov. Ralph Gates. In 1966, Daniels retired from the law practice to which his father had lent the family name, and he died six years later.

The firm briefly took on another name change in 1938 to Baker, Daniels, Wallace & Seagle. The name, however, was restored to Baker & Daniels in 1944.

BAKER & DANIELS TODAY
Baker & Daniels today is a regional law firm with 700 employees, 350 of them professionals. Its center of gravity remains Indiana, with offices in Indianapolis, South Bend, Elkhart and Fort Wayne. It has a strong presence in Washington, D.C., and under senior partner Michael Maine is developing a growing international presence in China.

The out-state Indiana offices were the result of half a dozen mergers and acquisitions during the past decade or so. The firm's Washington presence was also the result of a merger that created Sagamore Associates in 1989.

"All of these combinations have been critical to our success," says managing partner Burke, a Chicago native who joined Baker & Daniels in 1972 following a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy's Judge Advocate General's office. "We believed that we had to have a credible presence elsewhere than Indianapolis. We feel that we have created a culture that is to some extent a combination culture. We've been willing to adapt the better practices of our new partners to create an unique culture. And these have been lasting combinations. We're very proud of our success in making these mergers something other than a business transaction."

The mergers have transformed what was for years thought of as an Indianapolis law firm. "We're in a position to have a regional and national practice," Burke points out. "Our insurance practice is already a truly national practice."

Baker & Daniels attorneys have done the legal work for three insurance de-mutualization efforts, a record unparalleled in the country, Burke says. He adds that the firm's employment-law practice is in literally every state of the country. And, Burke notes, "our med-tech practice is national in scope." Through membership in a multiple consultancy practice called Aventor-which combines legal, scientific, regulatory, financial and venture capital aspects of the business-Baker & Daniels can assist med-tech firms from start-up to the marketplace.

The firm's China practice holds perhaps the most promise for future business growth. "Our belief is that economic conditions will make it an imperative for any manufacturing concern, especially here in Indiana, to think about production in China," Burke says. Baker & Daniels is the only law firm in Indiana and one of just 31 U.S. firms licensed by the Chinese Ministry of Justice to practice in the People's Republic. Baker & Daniels has a full-service office located in Qingdao, a port city of seven million residents, to work with its U.S. and Chinese clients.

That client list reads like a who's who of Indiana and regional companies, including Eli Lilly, Borg-Warner, Roche Diagnostics, Subaru-Isuzu, Chubb Group, Miller Brewing, Kimball International, GMAC and Dow AgroSciences.

Burke notes that service to clients is another trait that has existed at Baker & Daniels from the beginning. "There has always been adherence to higher standards of quality," he says. "The atmosphere here is to avoid arrogance at all costs. Clients abhor arrogance among lawyers."

For Baker & Daniels, the firm's history is ever-present. "One of the themes I try to promote is that we are beneficiaries of the historical legacy of our predecessors," Burke says. "If we lose sight of our history, then we lose a very important internal fiber that exists within this organization."

Burke adds that outsiders often wonder why the firm's intranet system is named "Conrad."

Conrad Baker would likely be amused by that.