On January 1, 2012 B&D Consulting and Baker Daniels LLP combined with Faegre & Benson LLP to form FaegreBD Consulting.

B&D Consulting

B&D Consulting's roots go back to a time long before public policy was debated on national television and the Internet, with participants arranging their discussions via cell phone. In fact, there were no telephones of any kind when our firm was born – and the U.S. Capitol, in its present form, was still under construction.

Baker & Daniels, grew from a series of Indianapolis-based law firms beginning in 1863 under the leadership of Thomas A. Hendricks, later Vice President of the United States under President Grover Cleveland. Hendricks chose as his partner Oscar B. Hord, a former Indiana Attorney General.

Hendricks & Hord went through a succession of personnel and name changes until Conrad Baker joined the firm in 1873. Ironically, Baker had defeated Hendricks in the 1868 Indiana gubernatorial election. Baker, by law could not succeed himself, but he was followed by Hendricks four years later and the two swapped jobs – Hendricks to the governor's office, Baker to the law firm – which became Baker, Hord & Hendricks.

In 1881, Albert Baker and Edward Daniels formed a partnership, opening their law office in the building that adjoined Baker, Hord & Hendricks. Even then, the young firm was interested in emerging technologies: telephone service was rare in Indianapolis but leaders of the two firms, seeing the technology's potential, decided to share a line.

Eventually, Albert Baker and Edward Daniels assumed control of Baker, Hord & Hendricks and changed the name to Baker & Daniels. Along the way, the firm became one of the leading law practices not only in Indianapolis, but throughout Indiana.

In 1976, Baker & Daniels established a Washington, DC, office. Nine years later the firm created a subsidiary company to help clients with federal government relations issues (Gogol & Associates/B&D Sagamore). The firm added a second subsidiary in the 1990's to provide public affairs services (Capitol Direct/B&D Quorum). And in 2000, a joint venture global medical technology consulting firm was launched (Aventor).

Now, the resources and people of B&D Sagamore, B&D Quorum and Aventor have come together under a new name – B&D Consulting to meet the challenges of our clients in the 21 st Century. But the core values of quality work and commitment to client interests remain as they have been since Thomas Hendricks and Oscar Hord first combined their legal talents in the midst of the Civil War – with the U.S. Capitol dome still unfinished in far away Washington.

Faegre & Benson

In 1886, Faegre & Benson was founded in Minneapolis as Cobb & Wheelwright. Former classmates at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, Albert Cobb and John Wheelwright opened the law office after graduating from Bowdoin and completing a course of study in law. John Benson, a former clerk for Cobb & Wheelwright, joined the firm in 1914.

In 1923, George Hoke, Claude Krause and John Barthell Faegre joined the firm, which was renamed Cobb, Wheelwright Hoke & Benson. Following the accidental death of Wheelwright in 1927, the firm became Cobb, Hoke, Benson, Krause & Faegre. The firm established itself as a pre-eminent corporate player in the Upper Midwest.

Faegre and Benson, who first met in 1909 as opposing players in a college football game, became up-and-coming leaders of the firm. When Hoke and two associates departed in 1938, the firm was reorganized as Faegre, Benson & Krause. On the death of Krause the following year, it became Faegre & Benson in 1940.

Over the next 20 years, Faegre & Benson prospered but grew only modestly. Recognizing that a more competitive environment was emerging, firm lawyers pushed for change. In 1959, a five-member management committee was created with full power to oversee the firm. With the change, significant achievements included successful recruitment of new lawyers in their 30s and installation of a confidential compensation based on merit and individual contributions.

By the mid-1980s, the firm's clients were embracing technology, looking at international markets for their products and establishing in-house legal departments. Global mergers and acquisitions were resulting in client turnover as companies were folded into large multinational corporations. Venture capital was edging out investment banking as the growth industry.

Determined to keep pace with clients, the firm assessed its geographic reach and the relevance of its practices and business model—and adapted to the changing environment. Evolution came in the form of personal computers, new emphasis on diversity, addition of professional staff and the admittance of women into the partnership.

New practices emerged in areas such as health care, intellectual property and mass tort. Faegre & Benson opened Colorado offices in Boulder and Denver in 1985. In 1990, Faegre & Benson became the first national law firm to establish an office in Des Moines, Iowa. Then, the firm opened an office in London in 1995 and an office in Shanghai in 2001.