Whereas the law firm of Rawle and Henderson LLP has
established and maintained a firm of national distinction whose reputation is
based upon the notable accomplishments of its founders and its commitment to
providing quality legal services to its clients;
Whereas Rawle and Henderson LLP celebrates 225 years of
legal service in 2008, initiated by 5 generations of a family and expanded to
over 100 attorneys in 8 offices and 5 states;
Whereas Rawle and Henderson attorneys throughout the last
225 years have served both the civic and legal community in the capacity of
elected officials, as well as appointed and elected judges on the Federal and
State benches;
Whereas William Rawle, who founded his practice in
Philadelphia in 1783, was inspired by the innovation of the Revolutionary era
and his notable contemporaries, such as Benjamin Franklin;
Whereas William Rawle actively participated in the
ideological revolution as well, serving as chancellor of the Associated Members
of the Bar of Philadelphia, and was elected to the American Philosophical
Society and helped found the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts;
Whereas William Rawle was made a Trustee by the University
of Pennsylvania in 1796, a position he served with zeal and
punctuality
;
Whereas William Rawle’s son, William Rawle, Jr., joined
the office in 1810, along with his brother William Henry, who eventually
assumed his father’s position in the firm;
Whereas William Henry Rawle received his degree from the
University of Pennsylvania, and published articles such as the Practical
Treatise on the Law of Covenants for Title
, which was accepted as a
legal authority throughout the Union and in England;
Whereas William Henry Rawle was also invited to speak to
the law department of his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, and in
1884 he appeared before a joint session of Congress to deliver a speech
honoring Chief Justice John Marshall;
Whereas William Henry Rawle served as vice president of
the Law Association of Philadelphia, and was noted by George Washington Biddle
for his intellectual strength and brilliancy of
expression
;
Whereas William Rawle’s grandson Francis Rawle, the next
leader of the Rawle law offices, attended Harvard College, began his law career
in 1873, and was one of the founders of the American Bar Association and its
first secretary and treasurer, later becoming its president in 1902;
Whereas Francis Rawle was a prolific author who gained
national recognition with his revision of Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, the
publication of which coincided with the centennial of the Rawle firm in 1883,
and he served as a delegate from the American Bar Association to the London
Conference for Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations in 1887;
Whereas Colonel William Brooke Rawle, nephew of William
Henry, served his country with distinction during the Civil War, entering the
Union Army as Second Lieutenant, Third Pennsylvania Cavalry, was commended by
his cousin Francis Rawle for his service, and went on to earn a master's degree
from the University of Pennsylvania in 1866 and to join the family firm a year
later, remaining the head of the office until his death in 1915;
Whereas Joseph W. Henderson joined the Rawle firm upon
graduation from Harvard Law School, expanding the firm’s reputation for legal
excellence and eventually becoming a partner in 1917;
Whereas, in similar fashion to his colleagues, Joseph
Henderson reached a position of considerable power in the Philadelphia Bar
Association and became chairman of the Association’s Board of Governors in
1936;
Whereas Joseph Henderson carried on the firm’s tradition
of leadership upon the passing of Francis Rawle, and oversaw 2 other
significant additions, George Brodhead and Tom Mount, who worked in trusts and
estates and the admiralty business, respectively;
Whereas Joseph Henderson continued to lead the firm with
landmark cases in the area of ship owner liability, arguing many of them before
the Supreme Court;
Whereas the Rawle and Henderson firm has evolved into one
of the leading legal firms in the country, employing a racially and
socioeconomically diverse staff, and has a number of attorneys honored as
Super Lawyers
in Pennsylvania; and
Whereas, supported upon the integrity of its founders and
the numerous accomplishments of the Rawle family and of Joseph W. Henderson,
the firm of Rawle and Henderson is primed to extend its history and tradition
of legal innovation into a future of continued prominence: Now, therefore, be
it
That the Senate—
(1)commemorates the
achievement of Rawle and Henderson LLP on its 225th anniversary and on being
recognized as the oldest law firm in continuous practice in the United States;
and
(2)salutes the
profound legacy the attorneys of Rawle and Henderson LLP have provided to the
civic and legal community of Pennsylvania and the Nation.