Baker & Daniels: Providing counsel to six generations of Hoosiers.

• Author: Beck, Bill
• Position: Centennial Business

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 Bail 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...