The original firm of Appleby was founded by
Reginald Appleby (1865–1948) in Bermuda in 1898. Appleby had passed his final law exams in England in 1887 and had been in partnership with
Reginald Gray (later Sir) attorney-general of Bermuda, from 1893 to 1897 in Bermuda as Gray & Appleby. In 1938 Appleby and
Dudley Spurling (later Sir) merged their practices to establish Appleby & Spurling. In 1949, that firm merged with William Kempe to become Appleby Spurling Kemp (or Kempe). Dudley Spurling was the senior partner of the merged firm until 1981. In 2004 they merged with
Cayman Islands' law firm Hunter & Hunter and with
Jersey based firm, Bailhache Labesse in September 2006. Appleby announced on 15 June 2008 that it was to merge with
Isle of Man based Dickinson Cruickshank & Co., enabling it to become the largest offshore law firm in the world with 73 partners and 200 lawyers. In 2010, they opened an office in Guernsey. In 2012, they announced that they would be opening an office in Shanghai. In 2014, Appleby worked with the company
Apple Inc. in a function similar to a general contractor to provide offshore offices on the island of
Jersey in co-operation with the law firm
Baker McKenzie. Until 2016, Appleby operated in partnership with the corporate services provider Estera until Estera split to become independent. ==Paradise Papers==