Baker Botts LLP
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| Headquarters |
One Shell Plaza Downtown Houston, Texas, United States |
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| No. of offices | 14 |
| No. of attorneys | 725 |
| Major practice areas | Antitrust and Competition, Bankruptcy and Restructuring, Corporate, Environmental, Private Clients, Projects, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Tax |
| Revenue | NA |
| Date founded | 1840 |
| Company type | Limited Liability Partnership |
| Slogan | Knowing Matters |
| Website | www.bakerbotts.com |
Baker Botts L.L.P. is a major United States-based international law firm of around 725 lawyers, with a long, prominent history and significant political connections, claiming more than half of the Fortune 100 companies among its clients. Headquartered in One Shell Plaza in Downtown Houston, Texas, the firm has a major list of energy related clients. It is said to be the second-oldest law firm west of the Mississippi.
The firm traces its history to 1840 in the Republic of Texas, with the beginning of legal practice by founding partner Peter W. Gray. Gray represented the Allen Brothers, founders of the city of Houston. Confederate Colonel Walter Browne Botts (from Fredericksburg, Virginia) joined the firm in 1865, and it became Gray and Botts. In 1872, James Addison Baker (a.k.a. Judge Baker; 1821–1897; from Huntsville, Texas) joined the firm and the name was changed to Gray, Botts & Baker. Gray left the partnership in 1874, to join the Supreme Court of Texas, and the two remaining partners, Walter Browne Botts and James A. Baker, renamed the firm Baker & Botts. Peter Gray also died in 1874. Judge Baker's son, also James Addison Baker (a.k.a. Captain Baker and James A. Baker, Sr.; 1857–1941) joined the firm as a clerk in 1877, a lawyer in 1881, and became partner in 1887, at which time the name became Baker, Botts and Baker.
In 1896, Captain Baker, personal attorney for Texas millionaire William Marsh Rice (Rice had become a client of Peter Gray in the 1850s), drew up a new will for Rice and was the will's executor. In 1900, Rice was poisoned in his bed by his valet, Charles F. Jones, and his New York City lawyer, Albert T. Patrick—a sensational crime that made national headlines. Captain Baker was a key witness and helped investigate the murder after Patrick produced a will that gave him control of five million dollars in 1904. Baker got the will he drew up entered as evidence in the case, and it was subsequently proved that Patrick had forged Rice's signature on the will he submitted. The case was not settled until 1910, and by that time the estate had grown to almost 10 million dollars. When the intent of Rice's will was finally executed, it led to the establishment of the William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Art, and Science, which is now called Rice University. Captain Baker was the first chairman of the Rice Board of Trustees. Rice University has maintained ties to Baker Botts since that time.
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