The story
The firm was founded in 1917 in New York by Benjamin Kaye and Jacob Scholer. Scholer was a graduate of New York Law School. Kaye was a graduate of Columbia Law School and an eminent banking lawyer who was among the first lawyers to bring a federal income tax case to trial under the 1913 income tax law. Kaye was also a noted playwright who wrote plays between tax cases. The firm was known as Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays and Handler for many years.
In 1958 the firm moved into brand new offices at 425 Park Avenue, between 55th and 56th Streets. This becomes the firm's New York headquarters for the next 55 years, making it one of the longest business tenants at one locale in the city's history. In fall 2014, the firm left 425 Park Avenue and moved its New York headquarters to 250 West 55th Street.
Kaye Scholer launched an office in Washington, D.C. in 1980.
Charges brought by the Office of Thrift Supervision against the firm in 1992 related to its representation of Charles Keating and his bank, Lincoln Savings and Loan, generated one of the most prominent legal ethics controversies of the decade.
Kaye Scholer opened an office in West Palm Beach in 1997, where it focuses on real estate and estate planning law.
Former US Senator Abraham Ribicoff joined Kaye Scholer as senior counsel in 1981. Ribicoff had previously sponsored the bill that opened up trade between the US and China. As a result of his influence, Kaye Scholer was able to further expand into the Asian market, becoming the first New York–based firm to open a Shanghai office in 1998.
In 2001, Kaye Scholer opened offices in London and Chicago; the firm's Frankfurt office opened soon after, in 2002. In 2010, the firm opened its ninth office in Palo Alto, offering a full range of legal services to technology companies and private investment firms in Silicon Valley and Northern California.
Following the merger of London-based Clifford Chance and legacy firm Rogers & Wells, Kaye Scholer benefited from a series of key lateral partners in intellectual property and bankruptcy.
Read the full text
In November 2016, Kaye Scholer announced that it would be merging with Washington, D.C.–based firm Arnold & Porter LLP to form Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, with approximately 1000 attorneys across nine domestic and four international offices. The merger took effect on January 1, 2017. In February 2018, The National Law Journal reported that the newly combined "firm has quietly reversed its post-merger branding efforts" and "scrubbed nearly all mention of ”Kaye Scholer” from its public image, changing its brand name, email addresses and web domain", while retaining the legal entity name in full.
From Wikipedia’s article on Kaye Scholer, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3