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Firm History

  • Introduction
  • 1954-1985
  • 1986-1995
  • 1996-2004
  • 2005-2019
  • 2020-Present

For over 60 years, Butler Snow has been a leader in client service.

  • 1954

  • The Beginning

    Butler, Snow & O'Mara and Stevens & Cannada merge to form Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens and Cannada, PLLC.

  • 1955

  • During several-year period of labor unrest, strikes and acts of sabotage in Mississippi, firm represents several clients in wide variety of labor matters and hundreds of labor arbitrations.

  • 1956

  • Knox Glass Bottle Co. v. Underwood

    Mississippi Supreme Court favorably decides Knox Glass Bottle Co. v. Underwood, the case that brought Butler, Snow & O’Mara and Stevens & Cannada together, establishing foundational Mississippi corporate law.

  • 1956

  • Firm contributes significantly to authorship of Mississippi Public Utilities Act.

  • 1960

  • Bob Cannada elected Chairman

    Bob Cannada is elected Chairman of the firm, serving in that role for 25 years.

  • 1964

  • Quo Vadis

    Phineas Stevens pens Quo Vadis, urging the firm to consider long-range objectives and establish a strategy for achieving them.

  • 1972

  • Practice and Procedure in Mississippi: An Ancient Recipe for Modern Reform

    Larry Franck publishes Practice and Procedure in Mississippi: An Ancient Recipe for Modern Reform, 43 MISS. L.J. 287, laying intellectual groundwork for judicial rulemaking. In 1981, following much work by other firm members, rules of civil procedure were adopted by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

  • 1978

  • Successful defense of Uniroyal in product liability case involves virtually every member of firm in 9-week trial – at the time, the longest civil or criminal trial in Mississippi federal court.

  • 1980

  • Firm is associated in DBS cases, marking the start of its drug and device defense, a hallmark practice area.

  • 1986

  • Hal Miller elected Chairman

    Hal Miller is elected Chairman of the firm.

  • 1987

  • Mississippi Legislature enacts Business Corporation Act, Limited Partnership Act and Nonprofit Corporation Act, following a year of drafting and lobbying by a group the firm helped organize.

  • 1987

  • Fifth Circuit reverses lower court and allows our client, Deposit Guaranty National Bank, to open branches statewide.  The ability of a national bank to open branches statewide set a national precedent and was the first step toward legislatively approved interstate banking in the 1990s, which led to tremendous industry consolidation.

  • 1989

  • Lex Mundi

    Firm is selected as the Mississippi member of Lex Mundi, a worldwide legal network of firms.  Twenty-five years later, the firm is still a strong member of the network.

  • 1989

  • Firm establishes Mississippi Regulatory Compliance Group to serve banking clients, in response to government’s regulatory reaction to savings and loan crisis. MRCG is first in Mississippi and one of only a small number of such groups ever formed.  Today, there are more than 45 members.

  • 1990

  • Jim O'Mara elected Chairman

    Jim O'Mara is elected Chairman of the firm.

  • 1993

  • Firm tries only case in U.S. Tax Court history to involve the effect of underground testing of nuclear devices on surface value, resulting in significant favorable tax result for client.

  • 1994

  • Alternative Fee Arrangements

    Firm enters regional counsel agreement with FMC Corporation, marking the first concerted effort at alternative fee arrangement with national client.

  • 1995

  • Firm is selected as the Mississippi member of The Harmonie Group, a national legal network of litigation firms.  After nearly 20 years of membership, firm is often highlighted among membership for “Signficant Wins” in the legal industry.

  • 1996

  • Larry Franck elected Chairman

    Larry Franck is elected Chairman of the firm.

  • 1997

  • Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada, PLLC Foundation

    The Butler, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens & Cannada, PLLC Foundation is established, with initial funding from a generous gift from a firm client, in appreciation for representation related to a major transaction.

  • 1998

  • Steve Rosenblatt elected Chairman

    Steve Rosenblatt is elected Chairman of the firm.

  • 1998

  • Firm opens its second office, located in Gulfport, Mississippi.

  • 1998

  • Firm opens an office in Memphis, its third location and first outside of Mississippi.

  • 2000

  • Fairview-Strategic Vision 2000 Day

    Strategic Vision Committee formed.

  • 2001

  • Merger with Garrison Morris

    Expanded the firm’s Memphis office by merging with the Garrison Morris firm and officially opened the firm’s location in the Crescent Center.

  • 2002

  • Firm completes construction of state-of-the-art courtroom equipped with the latest courtroom technology to provide practical, hands-on experience and training opportunities for younger lawyers.

  • 2003

  • Firm establishes Mid-South Regulatory Compliance Group to serve banking clients outside Mississippi.  Today, there are more than 35 members.

  • 2005

  • 2005 Strategic Plan

    The firm approves and adopts its second formal strategic plan, charting its course for the next five years.

  • 2006

  • Don Clark elected Chairman

    Don Clark is elected Chairman of the firm.

  • 2006

  • Firm is ranked among nation’s Top 100 Law Firms by BTI Consulting Group.

  • 2007

  • Memphis LEED-Certified Remodel

    After renovating our Memphis offices in 2007, Butler Snow became the first LEED-certified law firm in the Southeastern U.S.

  • 2009

  • Renaissance Relocation

    The firm’s Jackson, Miss. office relocates from downtown to the newly completed Renaissance building in Ridgeland, Miss.

  • 2009

  • Law360 ranks firm as one of the Top Ten Busiest Product Liability Practices

  • 2009

  • Firm is named to the “Midsize Hot List” by the National Law Journal

  • 2009

  • Pro Te: Solutio

    Pro Te: Solutio, a quarterly publication by the firm’s pharmaceutical, medical device and healthcare industry attorneys, wins a national Burton Award.

  • 2010

  • U.S. News/Best Lawyers recognizes firm in their list of Best Law Firms.

  • 2010

  • Firm makes first appearance on the National Law Journal’s NLJ 250 at #241.

  • 2011

  • AT&T Diversity Award

    Firm receives the inaugural AT&T Diversity Award for activities and accomplishments that show a commitment to diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.

  • 2011
  • Firm launches Butler Snow Advisory Services

    Firm launches Butler Snow Advisory Services

    Firm launches Butler Snow Advisory Services, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary that provides non-legal business advice and guidance to lower middle market companies.

  • 2011

  • Firm opens its fourth office, located in Oxford, Mississippi.

  • 2011

  • The American Lawyer names firm as a Go-To Law Firm for Litigation.

  • 2011

  • Firm expands into Louisiana with its fifth and sixth offices in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

  • 2011

  • Firm opens two more offices to better serve clients:  Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama.  This brings the total number of offices to eight.

  • 2012

  • Firm climbs to #222 in the NLJ 250.

  • 2012

  • The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania office is opened, marking the firm’s geographic presence in its fifth state.

  • 2012

  • Firm’s tenth office is opened, located in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.

  • 2012

  • Nashville office officially opens, with the addition of 37 attorneys to the firm.

  • Firm Expands to London, England

    To better serve its clients abroad, firm opens first international office in London, England

  • 2013

  • Denver location opens, bringing the number of firm offices to 13.

  • 2014

  • Further expanding its presence in the Northeastern U.S., firm announces New York office.

  • 2014

  • Firm opens offices in Atlanta and Macon, GA.

  • 2014

  • 2014 saw the expansion and opening of conference centers in our Birmingham, Atlanta and Denver offices. Each conference center offers a host of technology services such a video conferencing as well as catering support.

  • 2014

  • Firm makes significant jump to #155 in the National Law Journal’s NLJ 250.

  • 2014

  • Our 18th office opens in Albuquerque with the addition of Travis R. Steele.

  • 2015

  • The firm approves and adopts its third strategic plan, charting the course for the next five years.

  • 2015
  • 2015
  • 2015

  • Professional Development

    Butler Snow launches its Professional Development department.

  • 2015

  • Butler Snow ranks #148 in the 2015 NLJ 350

  • 2015

  • To better serve our clients, the Firm moves into a new office space in London.

  • 2016

  • Expansion in Asia

    Butler Snow announces its first expansion into Asia, with the opening of an office in Singapore.

  • 2016
  • Austin and Dallas Offices Open

    Austin and Dallas Offices Open

    Butler Snow expands to Texas by opening offices in Austin and Dallas.

  • 2016

  • Boston Office Opens

    Butler Snow opens an office in Boston with the addition of Stephen Weyl.

  • 2016

  • Wilmington Office Opens

    The firm opens its twenty-fourth office in Wilmington, North Carolina.

  • 2016

  • Firm Launches MRC-X

    The firm launches its life science, medical device and biologics subsidiary, MRC-X.

  • 2016

  • Richmond Office Opens

    Butler Snow opens an office in Richmond, Virginia.

  • 2017

  • Mentorship Program

    Firm launches an official Mentorship Program pairing every associate with a mentor, requiring monthly meetings and annual mentor plans.

  • 2017

  • Leadership Council on Legal Diversity

    Butler Snow joins the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and attorney Gadson William (Will) Perry is selected as the firm’s first LCLD Fellow.

  • 2017

  • Patricia C. Gandy joins the firm as its first full-time pro bono counsel.

  • 2017

  • BTI Consulting lists Butler Snow as a Leading Core firm for the Pharmaceutical Industry, placing the firm in the top 5% of all firms with regard to client relations and service.

  • 2018

  • Benchmark Litigation names Butler Snow its Product Liability Firm of the Year.

  • 2018

  • Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company, ranks the firm’s products liability litigation practice as the second busiest products liability practice in the nation. Butler Snow handled more than 28,000 cases during the period (2013-2017) measured by Lex Machina.

  • 2018

  • Butler Snow is awarded the Chairman of the Board’s Torchbearer Award for the firm’s contributions to the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project.

  • 2018

  • The firm serves as underwriter’s counsel in connection with The Bond Buyer’s 2018 Deal of the Year for the financing of the Denver International Airport.

  • 2018

  • Shreveport Office Opens

    The firm expands in Louisiana with the opening of its twenty-sixth office in Shreveport.

  • 2019

  • Thomson Reuters U.S. Municipals Review for 2018 ranks Butler Snow as a Top 10 firm nationally in the underwriter’s counsel category.

  • 2019

  • Butler Snow Alumni Network Launches

    The firm launches its Alumni Network, bringing together former Butler Snow attorneys across various stages of their careers.

  • 2019

  • Charleston Office Opens

    The firm expands to South Carolina with the opening of its twenty-seventh office in Charleston.

  • 2019

  • Women’s Initiative Launch

    The firm launches the Butler Snow Women’s Initiative seeking to further minimize barriers impeding the development and advancement of women at Butler Snow and within the legal profession.

  • 2020

  • Christopher R. Maddux Elected Chair

    Christopher R. Maddux, who was elected as the next Firm Chair in 2019, assumes the office.

  • 2020
  • Baton Rouge Office Expansion

    Baton Rouge Office Expansion

    The firm announces the addition of 17 new attorneys to its Baton Rouge location.

  • 2020

  • Austin Office Relocation

    The firm’s Austin office relocates to the newly constructed SXSW Building in downtown Austin.