Dorsey & Whitney

Dorsey was founded in 1912 by William Lancaster, a director of First National Bank of Minneapolis (now part of U.S. Bank), and David F. Simpson, a justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. The following year, they hired James Dorsey as their first associate. Dorsey left the firm in the 1920s to become an investment banker, but returned to the firm a few years after the 1929 stock market crash. Dorsey led the firm until his death in 1959. The name of the firm continued to change for most of its history, until it was shortened into its current, permanent name in 1981.

The firm has also endowed the Dorsey and Whitney Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School.

Dorsey has offices in Anchorage, Beijing, Boise, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Des Moines, Hong Kong, London, Minneapolis, Missoula, New York, Palo Alto, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Shanghai, Southern California (Costa Mesa), Toronto, Vancouver, Washington, DC, and Wilmington.

Insider trading controversy

In 2008, police uncovered an insider trading conspiracy involving Dorsey & Whitney partner Gil Cornblum, who there and earlier in his career at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York discovered inside information and, with his co-conspirator, Stanko "Stan" Grmovsek– a former lawyer and Cornblum's law school classmate –was found to have gained over $10 million in illegal profits over a 14-year span. Cornblum committed suicide by jumping from a bridge as he was under investigation and shortly before he was to be arrested but before criminal charges were laid against him, one day before his alleged co-conspirator pled guilty.