Print PDFOVER 100 Years of Excellence
Over more than a century, Gresham Savage has created winning strategies and achieved exceptional results on behalf of its local, regional and Fortune 500 clients. As Inland Southern California’s premier firm for business and corporate law, it owes much of its extraordinary success to the rich legacy of its founder and to the substantial contributions of those who followed.
William Guthrie: A Pioneering Force
The Gresham Savage story begins in 1910, when founder William Guthrie opened his solo practice in San Bernardino, Calif. Like the rest of the country, the city was in transition, shedding its image as a rough-and-ready saloon town where shootouts and public hangings were commonplace. During the first 20 years of the new century, as Santa Fe locomotives brought thousands of new settlers down the Cajon Pass, the city tripled in size and grew in respectability and importance.
Guthrie served as city attorney for 12 years, gaining valuable experience in industry, mining, tax valuation and assessments. He became an influential figure in business, political and social circles and was an imposing local presence, strolling the streets of San Bernardino in his distinctive white hat.
His reputation for getting results grew rapidly, catching the attention of large corporations, including the Southern Pacific Railroad, California Portland Cement Company, still a Gresham Savage client, and American Potash & Chemical Co., now Searles Valley Minerals, also still with the firm. Later in Guthrie’s career, Henry Kaiser hired him to handle the legal affairs of Kaiser’s new Fontana Steel Mill.
The Depression Era: Building the Team
By the economic crash of 1929, Guthrie had moved into San Bernardino’s new Andreson Building, which still stands today. Throughout the Depression, he continued serving major corporations, including the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, now the BNSF Railway Company and the longest-standing current Gresham Savage client, Southern California Edison and the predecessor to General Telephone, which is now Verizon.
As the country struggled through those difficult years, Guthrie expanded his practice, bringing on Carl B. Hilliard, Donald W. Jordan, John B. Lonergan and Jesse W. Curtis Jr. In 1937, he formed a partnership with Curtis, whose father had been a pioneer San Bernardino County lawyer, Superior Court judge and Supreme Court justice.
The War Years: Guthrie & Curtis
Now as Guthrie & Curtis, the firm prospered during World War II, serving heavy industry companies such as Kaiser Steel and California Portland Cement Company, whose successors remain clients of the firm. These were precedent-setting times, requiring attorneys of strong character and high intellect to properly interpret complex laws dealing with local and regional government regulations. Guthrie would often convene the area’s captains of industry at a local restaurant or meeting place to discuss the important legal and political issues of the day.
Small-town Roots, National Reach: Guthrie, Lonergan & Jordan
After Curtis left the firm in 1947, Guthrie, Lonergan and Jordan established a legendary partnership that was to be unmatched at handling legal matters involving labor, public land and mining. “New Law Firm Formed in City,” trumpeted the headline in the local newspaper, describing Guthrie as “long one of the outstanding figures” of the county’s bar.
Sadly, failing health forced Guthrie to retire soon after, but not a single client left the firm as Lonergan and Jordan took up the challenge of moving on without the legendary founding attorney. Though practicing in a small-town geographically, they were widely regarded as big-city professionals, expanding the practice even further and attracting multinational corporations as clients.
The 1960s: Lonergan, Jordan & Gresham
In 1959, the arrival of Allen Gresham as a litigation specialist and eventual partner signaled the beginning of a new era for the firm. Its client list increasingly read like a “Who’s Who” of industry giants and prominent hometown businesses. Comprised of just seven attorneys, the firm was involved in many of the decade’s most significant local ventures, including the San Bernardino Redevelopment Agency’s first shopping mall project, the Central City Mall.
By the mid-‘60s, Lonergan, Jordan & Gresham had outgrown its location, and moved operations to the city’s newest and largest office building—on the northeast corner of 4th and D streets. Described by Lonergan, its owner, as “one of the most modern and efficient in the area,” the building featured a new pneumatic tube system and one of the most extensive private law libraries in the region. Also highlighted in a newspaper report was the firm’s “electronic” typewriter, “believed to be the only one found in a law office in San Bernardino.”
The 1970s: Lonergan, Jordan, Gresham & Savage
The region took on an identity of its own during the ‘70s, adopting the designation, “Inland Empire.” Agriculture and mining continued to be a major part of the regional economy, while the expansion of Norton Air Force Base signaled an economic boom in San Bernardino. The firm grew as well, further expanding its services and client base by welcoming estate planning specialist Philip Savage III, litigation specialist John Nolan, and mining law expert William Tilden, all of whom eventually became partners.
The 1980s and Beyond: Gresham Savage Nolan & Tilden
By the early 1980’s, though Lonergan and Jordan had come to the end of their distinguished law careers and had both retired, the firm continued to provide a broad range of services and enjoyed tremendous client loyalty. In response to the expanding needs of its burgeoning client list, additional partners were brought on board and the practice moved once again, this time to the new Arrowhead Building. To give its long-standing regional clients better access to the firm, a second office was also opened in Riverside County.
Today: The Region’s Premier Business Law Firm
Gresham Savage—now incorporated—has become one of the largest and most influential full service law firms in Inland Southern California, with two practice locations and more than 50 attorneys. It has earned a reputation for wise counsel, toughness and relentless execution in matters concerning a wide range of industries and across a growing array of practice areas.
Over the course of a century, Gresham Savage has cultivated an enviable track record of success by doing what matters most—winning cases. Even as many companies and the country overall faced economic decline in 2009-2010, by adapting to a changing marketplace and increasing its capacity in areas of escalating demand, the firm experienced growth of nearly 20 percent.
Gresham Savage takes pride in the long-term relationships—some extending more than 70 years—made possible by an uncompromising focus on personal service, integrity and protecting vital client interests. Like the respect our founder, William Guthrie, commanded in his signature white hat 100 years ago, Gresham Savage attorneys today stand out from the competition by consistently delivering what clients demand—winning strategies and exceptional results.