William Rawle

William Rawle (April 28, 1759 – April 12, 1836) was an American lawyer in Philadelphia, who in 1791 was appointed as United States district attorney in Pennsylvania. He was a founder and first president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and for 40 years a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania.

Rawle was born in Philadelphia, where he studied at the Friends' Academy. His father was Francis Rawle (1729–1761) and mother was Rebecca Warner (1730–1819). His grandfather was William Rawle (1694–1741) and his great-grandfather was Francis Rawle (1663–1727), who authored some early pamphlets printed by Benjamin Franklin before he started his own business. Rawle's family were Cornish American members of the Religious Society of Friends (known as "Quakers"), originating in the parish of St Juliot, Cornwall.

Rawle studied law in New York and at the Middle Temple, London, and was admitted to the bar in 1783. William Rawle founded The Rawle Law Offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1783, and this firm has continued to the present day as the oldest law firm in continuous practice in the United States, Rawle & Henderson LLP. In 1791 President Washington appointed him United States district attorney for Pennsylvania, in which capacity he prosecuted the leaders of the Whiskey Insurrection.

...
Wikipedia