Our History

From our start as a two-person firm serving the banking and railroad industries in the late 1800s, Dickinson Wright has evolved into a leading global law firm, serving clients across North America and around the world. With more than 550+ lawyers across 40 practice areas, Dickinson Wright has the honor of representing leading industrial, financial, insurance, emerging technology, and service enterprises. Dickinson Wright has worked with clients on six continents, and our global presence continues to expand as we seek opportunities to serve our clients wherever their businesses take them.

Founded in Detroit in 1878 by two young lawyers, Henry Monroe Campbell and Henry Russel, Dickinson Wright has continued to flourish by focusing on meeting the needs of each individual client while implementing innovative and thoughtful best practices and ensuring our founding values guide our everyday decisions. The firm’s name evolved several times throughout our history to reflect changes in leadership. Finally, in 1998, the firm officially became Dickinson Wright PLLC.

Dickinson Wright began expanding outside of Michigan in 1978 with the opening of the Washington, D.C. office. Since then, the firm has added additional offices across the United States. In 2011, the firm’s Ontario affiliate, Dickinson Wright LLP, grew through a combination with a Toronto-based firm, Aylesworth LLP, that had served clients with distinction since 1861. Then in 2013, our Phoenix office combined with Phoenix-based Mariscal, Weeks, McIntyre & Friedlander, P.A., a firm of over 60 attorneys, to become the firm’s largest office outside the Detroit area. Today, the firm serves clients worldwide through affiliations with local firms in China, Japan, South Korea, India, Europe, and beyond.

Office Opening Timeline

• 1970 – Lansing (MI)
• 1978 – Washington, D.C.
• 1989 – Grand Rapids (MI)
• 2000 – Ann Arbor (MI)
• 2009 – Nashville (TN)
• 2010 – Las Vegas (NV)
• 2011 – Toronto (Ontario) and Troy (MI)
• 2012 – Columbus (OH) and Saginaw (MI)
• 2013 – Phoenix (AZ)
• 2015 – Lexington (KY) and Reno (NV)
• 2016 – Ft. Lauderdale (FL) and Austin (TX)
• 2017 – El Paso (TX)
• 2018 – Silicon Valley (CA)
• 2021 – Chicago (IL)
• 2024 – San Diego (CA)
• 2025 – Seattle (WA)

At Dickinson Wright, we value our relationships with our clients and business partners, investing in each client’s success. Our commitment to excellence and client satisfaction is evidenced by our long-term client relationships – we have served many of our clients for decades, and some of them for centuries! We have worked with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company since the late 1800s and with Chrysler Corporation since it was organized in the 1920s. Our association with both Ford Motor Company and the National Bank of Detroit (now JPMorgan Chase Bank) spans over eight decades.

Throughout the years, Dickinson Wright has assisted in a number of historically significant events. Members of the firm helped draft the state of Michigan’s two constitutions in 1908 and 1963. And, in 1933, after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt closed banks nationwide, our firm was instrumental in helping to organize a new national bank in Detroit.

We are equally active in writing and revising legislation for our clients’ benefit. Firm members drafted several significant statutes, including the Michigan Financial Institutions Act of 1937, the Intangibles Tax Act, the Industrial Facilities Tax Act of 1974, and the Community Property Tax Act of 1948. Additionally, numerous firm members have been appointed or elected to the judiciary, and several former firm members who began their legal careers at Dickinson Wright have served, or are currently serving, on the Michigan Supreme Court.

Today, we remain actively involved in legislative developments, and many of our firm members have served or continue to serve on the Michigan Supreme Court.

Dickinson Wright was among the first law firms globally to achieve ISO/IEC 27701:2019 certification, reflecting our practical, forward-looking approach to information governance. Combined with our experience in constitutional law, financial regulation, and public policy, this positions us as a trusted partner for navigating complex legal issues.