About The Firm
Overview
Ballard Goes Beyond
We provide strategic legal services and business solutions of the highest quality, delivered with uncommon efficiency.
With more than 600 lawyers in 15 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.
ESG/Corporate Responsibility
We apply the ESG services we provide for clients to the structure and management of our firm.
The Ballard Way
The Ballard Way embodies the firm's mission and values. It reinforces our purpose and priorities and guides our professional lives.
A Stand Against Terrorism
We condemn in the strongest possible terms the brutal and unjustifiable acts of terrorism by Hamas on civilian communities in Israel.
Where We Stand
Ours is a community where people of every background and belief system are welcomed and have an opportunity to succeed.
A Stand For Voting Rights
Our firm has consistently supported efforts to ensure equality across all races and classes, and we will strengthen our efforts in that regard.
Video: Culture of Collaboration
WatchFirm News
- Press Release
Ballard Spahr Serves as Underwriters' Counsel in $671 Million MAC Bond Issuance
- Press Release
Ballard Spahr Makes The American Lawyer's Shortlist for Best Professional Growth Program
- Awards and Rankings
Ballard Spahr's Steve Park Named a 'Building & Infrastructure Trailblazer' by City & State PA
- Press Release
Ballard Spahr Represents Asensus Surgical in Merger
Rankings and Recognition
118 Attorneys and 52 Practices Recognized for Excellence
Chambers USA, 2024
A Top-Tier National Practice
26 practices ranked in the highest tier nationally
Best Law Firms, 2024
Named a 'Ceiling Smasher'
Recognized for closing the gender gap in the top ranks
Law360 Pulse List, 2023
Best Business Team
Client Value and Innovation
American Lawyer Awards, 2022
History
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.
Community
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.
Outreach
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 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.
- In Delaware, lawyers and staff, along with family members, serve at the New Castle County Food Bank sorting and counting food available for the needy in New Castle County.
- Our Denver attorneys and staff donate to school supply drives in conjunction with the local bar association and to the Fall Food Drive to benefit local food banks. We also organize a successful coat drive every year.
- Lawyers and staff in our Las Vegas office serve meals to the homeless at the St. Vincent DePaul Dining Facility.
- In Los Angeles, we adopted Woodrow Wilson High School.
- In Minneapolis, we conduct an annual winter coat drive. Since 1992, we have collected and distributed thousands of coats to people in need.
- In New Jersey, we donate to the Camden County Food Bank and serve in the kitchen to mark Martin Luther King's birthday. We also collect backpacks, warm coats, used toners, pajamas, clothing, and books for various local organizations. Our five-dollar Jeans Day raises money for a different charity every month and our Lee Denim Day benefits the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
- Our New York staff members have supported reading programs, soup kitchens, park conservation programs, a humanitarian organization providing disaster relief and financial aid, for the homeless of New York City and surrounding suburbs. We collect clothing and slightly used books for Housing Works, and donations for Columbia Community Services, organizations that provide support to less fortunate residents of the city.
- Our attorneys and staff meet weekly to read one-on-one with public school children through the Philadelphia Reads Program.
- In Phoenix, our bowl-a-thon benefits Angels for Athletes and our book drives assist Phoenix Collegiate Academy, a charter school for third- to 12th-graders.
- In Sioux Falls, our attorneys and staff partner with Rake the Town to help senior citizens with their fall yard work.
- We participate in Utah State Bar-sponsored campaigns to collect food for the Utah Food Bank and winter coats for the homeless. As part of an office First Friday service initiative, we also work with the Homeless Youth Resource Center.
- In Washington, D.C., we organize monthly dinners at Lazarus House of Samaritan Inns, a residential housing and rehabilitation facility. Additionally, the office organizes events throughout the year, such as food drives for Capital Area Food Bank, a household goods and coat collections for A Wider Circle, and healthy after-school snack kits for D.C. Central Kitchen.
Board Service
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.