Founding years Dinsmore & Shohl LLP was founded in 1908 by Frank F. Dinsmore. Mr. Dinsmore grew up in Portsmouth, Ohio and was a 1891 graduate of Cincinnati Law School (now known as
Donald P. Klekamp College of Law). Mr. Dinsmore opened a private practice in 1908, and in 1912 he invited Walter M. Shohl, a graduate of
Harvard Law School to join the firm. The new partnership for the practice of law under the firm name of Dinsmore & Shohl was announced on February 1, 1912.
Cox trials The partners took a leading role in two of the most sensational trials in
Cincinnati history: the criminal trials of
George B. Cox for violation of state banking laws. In the country's notorious era of "
bossism," Cox controlled 25,000 votes in Cincinnati, one of America's largest cities at the time. Historians claim that "no one in Cincinnati could hope to hold office without Cox's approval - even presidents vied for his approval." The state of Ohio charged Cox and 10 other former directors and officials of Cox's defunct bank, the Cincinnati Trust Co., with willful misapplication of bank funds and other charges. In two trials during the summer of 1913, Dinsmore and Shohl won acquittals for Cox on all charges.
Savings and loan crisis Seventy three years after the Cox trials, the firm ended up on the other side of Ohio's misapplication of bank funds statute. The firm's lawyers took the lead in prosecuting the criminal trial following the collapse of
Home State Savings Bank of Cincinnati in the great
savings and loan crisis. Ohio Attorney General
Anthony Celebrezze, Jr. appointed Lawrence Kane as special prosecutor to convene a grand jury and investigate the Home State collapse. Kane and a team of the firm's lawyers successfully prosecuted the criminal charges in what was, at that time, the longest criminal trial in Hamilton County history, stretching from November 1986 to March 1987. Local financier Marvin Warner, a former Ambassador to Switzerland, was among those found guilty and sent to prison.
Wright aeronautical plant Just prior to
World War II, the firm handled a top-secret matter for the government: the siting of the
Wright Aeronautical Plant on what is now
General Electric in
Evendale, Ohio. This facility would employ 20,000 by 1942 and manufacture the aircraft engines responsible for much of the bombing during the war. Dinsmore & Shohl attorneys handled the massive title work involving hundreds of parcels, all in total secrecy.
Expansion After the war, the firm expanded in a number of areas, including litigation and liability. Massive wage hour litigation was handled in Milan, Tennessee, for the Procter & Gamble Defense Corporation. The firm managed National Labor Relations Act cases for
Procter & Gamble, as well as early product liability cases. Dinsmore also broadened its reach as Procter & Gamble expanded into foreign markets. Attorneys formed companies throughout the world, providing an essential support to the establishment of Procter & Gamble's vast international business in the 1950s through the 1970s. As legal practices became increasingly specialized during this same period, the firm's experience with Procter & Gamble helped its own business, transactional, tax and real estate practice areas. In 2006, for example, the firm represented long-time client
Bob Castellini in his acquisition of the
Cincinnati Reds from financier
Carl Lindner. In the 1980s, the firm expanded into tort litigation, starting with the
Rely (brand) tampons,
Toxic Shock Syndrome cases for Procter & Gamble and the
Bendectin birth defect cases for
Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. During this period, the firm also handled insurance coverage work for
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. Additional work involved
Dow Corning breast implants, the diet drug
Fen-phen,
Brown & Williamson tobacco and popcorn flavoring. The firm continues to serve a large number of companies, from
Fortune 500 international conglomerates to small businesses,
non-profit organizations and entrepreneurs. ==Growth==