About The Firm

We provide strategic legal services and business solutions of the highest quality, delivered with uncommon efficiency.

With more than 750 lawyers in 18 U.S. offices, we bring industry knowledge augmented by tenacity, initiative, and a drive for results—creating an outsized advantage for clients in litigation, transactions, and regulatory compliance.

Ballard Spahr traces its origins to 1885 and became known as "Ballard and Spahr" in the early 1900s when Ellis Ames Ballard and Boyd Lee Spahr began practicing law together. Since then, the firm has grown by number of attorneys, practices, and offices throughout the United States.

1885 | Ellis Ames Ballard joins a law firm led by Rufus E. Shapley in Philadelphia.

1904 | Boyd Lee Spahr joins Shapley & Ballard.

1919 | Ballard Spahr and Andrews is established.

1920 | R. Sturgis Ingersoll joins the practice.

c. late '20s/early '30s | The firm's name becomes Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll.

1978 | The Washington, D.C., office opens as the firm's first office outside Philadelphia.

1981 | Peter Mattoon becomes firm Chair.

1981 | The firm opens its Denver office, laying the foundation for growth in the Rocky Mountain and Southwest regions.

1987 | The Salt Lake City office opens, the firm's second office in the West.

1992 | The firm establishes an office in Baltimore to further expand its core practices.

1992 | The New Jersey office opens, extending the firm's Mid-Atlantic reach.

1998 | David L. Cohen becomes firm Chair.

2002 | Arthur Makadon becomes firm Chair.

2002 | The firm opens an office in Delaware, which extends the firm's Mid-Atlantic footprint.

2006 | To serve clients in the hospitality, gaming, and energy industries, the firm opens its Las Vegas office.

2006 | The Phoenix office opens to expand the firm's key practices in the West.

2007 | To fuel further national expansion, the firm establishes an office in Los Angeles.

2008 | The firm acquires Needle & Rosenberg, P.C., an intellectual property boutique firm in Atlanta, expanding the firm's IP services and establishing a foothold in the Southeast.

2009 | The firm's name officially changes to Ballard Spahr LLP.

2011 | Mark Stewart becomes firm Chair.

2013 | The firm opens an office in New York City, joining with Stillman & Friedman, a noted white collar defense and securities litigation and enforcement boutique. The partnership marks the 14th office for Ballard Spahr.

2017 | The firm opens an office in Boulder, Colorado—a hub for innovation and entrepreneurial leadership—with the addition of a group of attorneys focused on corporate and securities, mergers and acquisitions, licensing, and strategic transactional matters.

2017 | The firm merges with preeminent First Amendment litigation boutique Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, bolstering our national media and entertainment law practice.

2018 | Ballard Spahr merges with Lindquist & Vennum, a leader in middle-market deal making. The combination strengthens practice capabilities, particularly in the areas of private equity and strategic M&A transactions, and gives the firm new offices in Minneapolis and Sioux Falls, SD, and an expanded presence in Denver. Ballard Spahr now has more than 600 lawyers in 15 offices nationwide.

2024 | Peter V. Michaud becomes firm Chair.

2025 | Ballard Spahr combines with Lane Powell—a multi-practice firm with leading practices in the Pacific Northwest and a history dating to 1875. The combination brings Ballard Spahr's lawyer headcount to more than 750 and gives the firm new offices in Anchorage, Portland, and Seattle.

We use practicality, empathy, and creativity to deliver outsized value in everything we do. That mission extends to our dedication to improving the places where we live and work. In addition to the more than 50,000 hours of pro bono services we provide, our lawyers and business professionals roll up their sleeves to get involved with hundreds of efforts—big and small—that make our communities more healthy, safe, and equitable.

Show us a need and we will pull together to help meet it, from donating to local school-supply drives to pitching in on such high-impact, hands-on endeavors as Habitat for Humanity and the MLK Day of Service. Here is a sampling of other ways in which we contribute to the well-being of our communities:

• In Anchorage, we raise money for the United Way and make donations to the Food Bank of Alaska.
• In Atlanta, attorneys and staff nominate local organizations to benefit from the office's Jeans Day for Charity.
• We work the conveyor belt at the Maryland Food Bank and collect toys, school supplies, and clothing for Dayspring Programs, a nonprofit organization that assists homeless children and their families in the Baltimore area.

We are recognized leaders in the community. Many of our attorneys are proud to serve on the boards of local, regional, and national organizations. As elected or appointed members of these decision-making bodies, they help guide and garner financial support for groups focused on the arts, juvenile justice, wide-scale charitable giving, historic preservation, gender and racial equality, health care, higher education, and community development. They serve on the boards of transportation authorities, governmental entities, corporations, and educational and civic institutions. It is a great source of pride for us that our attorneys excel both at serving clients and serving their communities.

We are dedicated to meeting our clients’ needs worldwide. In support of this commitment, we are a member of the World Law Group and the U.S. Law Firm Group. Through these resources, our attorneys have the opportunity to collaborate with top legal minds across the world to resolve the national and multinational legal challenges our clients face.

U.S. Law Firm Group

The U.S. Law Firm Group is a national network of 18 established U.S. law firms. Each independent firm is headquartered in a major city in one of the country’s leading commercial states, and most have additional offices outside their home jurisdictions.

Variations in statelaws and court systems make knowledge of local and regional policies and practices essential. Every firm in this network has many years of experience in its own region and is able to refer clients to other member firms to satisfy the clients’ specific requirements throughout the country.

World Law Group

The World Law Group is a network of 59 leading independent law firms with offices in major commercial centers worldwide. As a member of the World Law Group, our attorneys can access the local knowledge and legal experience of more than 21,000 attorneys in 89 countries via a single call to any World Law Group member firm.

Through this membership, we have access to updates and briefings on a wide variety of business law topics provided by member firms from various jurisdictions around the world. In addition, our attorneys are able to share information and confer with member firms on international trends and local developments in their fields via one of the World Law Group’s global practice groups.

Contact the individuals who manage our firm.