No. of offices 1 Major practice areas General practice Company type LLP Founded 1898 | No. of attorneys 200 Date founded 1898 (1898) Number of attorneys 200 Number of offices 1 | |
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Headquarters Boston, Massachusetts, United States | ||
Choate Hall & Stewart LLP is a Boston-based law firm.
The firm was founded in 1898 by Charles F. Choate Jr. and John Hall, later joined by Ralph A. Stewart. One case of Choate's distinguished legal career was as lead counsel for the defendant United States Industrial Alcohol Company following the Great Molasses Flood of 1919. Choate argued forcefully (but unsuccessfully) that the catastrophic failure of the huge molasses tank was caused by anarchists rather than misfeasance on the part of the defendant.
Poet Archibald MacLeish practiced at the firm for three years in the early 1920s.
In 2003, the Boston Globe accused Choate, Hall & Stewart attorneys for the Amelia Peabody Foundation, following the death of Amelia Peabody, of using a fee structure that can lead to excessive fees.
Choate, Hall & Stewart has long engaged in the practice, common only among Boston law firms, of serving as an investment broker, particularly in the 21st century.