CALFEE, HALTER & GRISWOLD, a law firm which dates to the formation of Calfee & Fogg in Cleveland in 1908, has specialized in corporate and securities, commercial and municipal law and financing, civil litigation, taxation, labor relations, banking, real estate, health-care law, antitrust law, probate, and estate planning. One of the oldest local firms, Calfee, Halter & Griswold employed 150 full-time attorneys in 1995 and had offices in the McDonald Investment Center. Whereas many major law firms have grown through mergers, Calfee, Halter's growth has been internal. Over the years the firm's name has changed to reflect the prominence of key partners. Until the late 1960s it was known as Calfee, Fogg, McChord & Halter. In 1968 it was doing business as Calfee, Halter, Calfee, Griswold & Sommer. The current (1995) name was adopted in 1974. The firm's founding partner, Robert Calfee, graduated from Roanoke (VA) College in 1893 and completed his law studies at George Washington Univ. in 1901. He received a Master of Law degree from National Univ. in 1902 and practiced in Washington, DC, and Virginia before moving to Cleveland. Calfee and Fogg were joined in 1923 by a young Western Reserve Univ. (WRU) Law School graduate, Edwin Halter, who served as the firm's managing partner from 1956-67. By 1950 the firm numbered no more than 10 attorneys.
That year Bruce Griswold, WRU Law School graduate and former law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice HAROLD H. BURTON, joined the firm; he became a partner in 1951. The firm numbered 22 attorneys by 1962 and continued to grow rapidly over the next 20 years, reaching a total of 44 attorneys in 1972 and 88 in 1982. In 1985 it welcomed its 100th attorney. Major policy for the firm is determined by a 10-member executive committee elected annually by the partners.