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Firm History

On January 1, 2020, Lathrop Gage LLP and Gray Plant Mooty – two of the oldest continuously operating law firms west of the Mississippi River – combined to form Lathrop GPM LLP, deepening an historic Midwestern core and broadening a robust national service platform.

Lathrop GPM LLP Timeline
2020 – Two legacy law firms (Lathrop Gage and Gray Plant Mooty) combine to form Lathrop GPM LLP, a 325-lawyer firm with 12 offices coast to coast, offering core strengths in energy, environmental law, franchise, health law, higher education, insurance recovery, life sciences patent prosecution, mergers & acquisitions, nonprofit, tax credits, trusts and estates, and tort litigation, among other regional and national practice areas.
Legacy Firm Lathrop Gage LLP Legacy Firm Gray Plant Mooty
2019 - Opens an office in Dallas, Texas. Lathrop Gage has nearly 250 attorneys in 10 offices nationwide.  
2017 – Rebrands and drops the ampersand in the firm name to become Lathrop Gage.  
  2016 - Celebrates its sesquicentennial anniversary, marking 150 years of client and community service.
  2014 - Opens an office in Fargo, North Dakota.
2011 - Combines with Kamlet Reichert in Denver and opens an office in Boston.  
  2010 - Named one of Minnesota’s “Best Places to Work” by The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal – the only law firm in the state to receive this award for an unprecedented eight consecutive years.
2009 - Opens offices in Los Angeles and Chicago.  
2007 - Opens an office in Clayton, Missouri. 2007 - Names Tamara H. Olsen as the firm’s first female managing officer.
2005 - Opens a Denver office. 2005 - Opens an East Coast office in Washington, D.C. Receives the Minnesota Business Ethics Award. And for the second consecutive year, was voted one of the top five law firms for corporate legal advice by directors of publicly traded companies in Minnesota.
2004 - Completes merger with Craft Fridkin & Rhyne in Kansas City. 2004 - Voted one of the top five law firms for corporate legal advice by directors of publicly traded companies in Minnesota.
  2003 - Moves to current Minneapolis location in the IDS Center. And named one of Minnesota’s “Great Places to Work” in The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
  2002 - Combines with Hall & Byers of St. Cloud. And named “Employer of the Year” by the American Cancer Society.
1998 - Expands its Kansas presence, merging with Bennett, Lytle, Wetzler, Martin & Pishny. Also expands deeper into Missouri by opening an office in Jefferson City. Firm celebrates its 125th anniversary.  
1997 - Enters the St. Louis market through a merger with Schoenbeck, Schoenbeck & Associates.  
1996 - Lathrop & Gage is created through the merger of Lathrop & Norquist and Gage & Tucker. The combined firm has 140 attorneys.  
  1990 - Combines with Harstad and Rainbow.
  1984 - Moves to the Minneapolis City Center.
1983 - Gage & Tucker expands into Kansas with the opening of an Overland Park office. The legacy firm of Gardiner Lathrop, then known as Lathrop & Norquist, follows a year later.  
1980 - Gage’s firm, now known as Gage & Tucker, opens a Washington D.C. office.  
  1977 - Named Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett.
  1956 - Involved in real estate transactions for “Southdale,” the nation’s first enclosed shopping mall.
  1955 - Moves to the Roanoke Building in Minneapolis.
  1950 - Mr. Kingman retires; to many, the firm is now known as “The Kingman Firm.”
1940 - John Gage is elected mayor of Kansas City, following “Boss” Tom Pendergast’s admission to income tax evasion the year prior. Gage engaged the women voters of Kansas City with the slogan “WANTED: 75,000 women with pioneer courage…let us keep faith with those who blazed the trail.” Gage was widely praised for the reforms he enacted in the post-Pendergast era.  
1930 - John Gage opens Gage & Hillix in downtown Kansas City.  
1903 - Gardiner Lathrop delivers the commencement address at Kansas City’s Central High School, where he hands a diploma to an 18-year-old John Gage.  
  1883 - Joseph R. Kingman joins firm.
  1881 - Woods & Hahn is created when former Minnesota Attorney General William J. Hahn joins the firm.
1873 - Gardiner Lathrop and William Smith open an office in the River Market area of Kansas City, Missouri; at the time, the tallest building in town is three stories high. Both men have a deep commitment to public service, a trait that will become a core value of the firm; they were appointed U.S. Commissioner and Deputy U.S. Marshal, respectively.  
  1866 - Charles Woods opens a Minneapolis law office, one year after the end of the Civil War.