About The Firm

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Contact the individuals who manage our firm.