Firm History

Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold was founded in San Francisco in 1933 as the law firm of Keith & Creede. We rapidly evolved to become a leading trial firm in Northern California.

The 1950s represented the emergence of the first multi-plaintiff consumer litigation. We were chosen to represent Cutter Laboratories in the polio vaccine lawsuits which filled the courtrooms during most of the 1950s. Our current name of Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold was adopted in 1959.

During the 1960s and 70s, multi-plaintiff litigation led to mass tort litigation involving class actions, and multi-district and market share litigation. Sedgwick was repeatedly selected as lead counsel to represent local, regional and national interests in these cases. In 1979, we opened our Los Angeles office in order to serve an expanding Southern California client base.

The 1980s saw rapid expansion of our firm, fueled by that decade's economic boom and an increasingly complex business and legal environment. New practice areas were added to complement our traditional general litigation practice, including product liability, toxic tort, drug and medical device litigation, construction, environmental, employment, entertainment, healthcare, insurance and reinsurance and intellectual property law.

In February of 1985, our New York office was opened to serve clients in the areas of fidelity and surety law and pharmaceutical product liability litigation. As insurance and corporate markets became increasingly global in nature, offices were opened in London, England in 1985 and Zurich in 1991. In 1988, our firm expanded its Southern California presence with a new office in Orange County. We rounded out a decade of growth by opening an office in Chicago in December, 1989.

During the 1990s, we continued to expand -- both geographically and statistically. By the end of 1998, we numbered 270 attorneys, up from 100 in 1985. The growth has been organic, rather than by merger. Lateral partner additions have been primarily client driven.

In July 2000, we added a Paris office to complement our European practice. Our office in Newark, New Jersey opened in January 2001 to provide complex class action and mass tort litigation services for industrial, chemical and pharmaceutical clients. Our second office expansion in 2001 was marked by our entry into the Dallas market in April. 

We expanded our presence in Texas in 2006.  Our office in Austin opened to serve our media, entertainment and sports clients.  Our Houston office opened in December. The Houston office brings Sedgwick's market presence to thirteen offices worldwide and continues our expansion of commercial and complex litigation services.