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Giddings E. Mabry

Doyle E. Carlton

OK Reaves

D. Wallace (Wally) Fields

Since 1901

The world has changed dramatically since Carlton Fields was founded more than 100 years ago. Continued change, which brings challenges and opportunities, is a guarantee. We embrace it, and look to the future with the mix of creativity, optimism, and vision that has helped us endure.

 

 1900s  
1901    Giddings Mabry opened his Tampa law firm, known as Giddings E. Mabry, a Carlton Fields predecessor.
       
  1912   Mabry & Carlton was formed when Doyle Elam Carlton joined the firm following his graduation from Columbia University.
       
  1917   Carlton was elected to the Florida State Senate and is credited with leading the fight in Tallahassee for women’s suffrage.
 1920s  
1921    The firm became Mabry, Reaves & Carlton after Judge OK Reaves joined.
       
  1929   Doyle Carlton became governor of Florida, resigned from the firm, and was replaced by Morris White. The firm became Mabry, Reaves & White.
   
1934   Carlton completed his term as governor and returned to the firm, which became Mabry, Reaves, Carlton & White.
       
  1938   Wallace (Wally) Fields joined the firm. He later became Florida’s leading oil and gas lawyer, representing up to 17 oil companies and drafting the state’s first oil and gas code.
 1940s  
1945   Arthur Anderson joined the firm and it was renamed Mabry, Reaves, Carlton, Anderson & Fields.
       
  1947   The firm was renamed Mabry, Reaves, Carlton, Anderson, Fields & Ward after Dave Ward joined.
 1950s  
  1953    Wm. Reece Smith, Jr., Rhodes scholar and quarterback in the first Gator Bowl, joined the firm.
       
1957   President Eisenhower appointed Doyle Carlton to the Federal Civil Rights Commission. Carlton served until 1961.
 1960s  
1961   At a time when law firms were largely segregated along religious lines, Mabry, Reaves, Carlton, Fields & Ward became the first mainstream Florida firm to hire a Jewish partner, Edward Cutler.
       
  1963   Sylvia Walbolt, the firm’s first female, was hired. She was the only woman in her law school class at the University of Florida.

Renamed Carlton, Fields, Ward, Emmanuel, Smith & Cutler, the firm grew to 18 lawyers.
       
  1966   The firm offered an alternative work schedule to Walbolt.
       
  1967   The firm opened its Orlando office.
       
  1969   The firm was the first large Florida law firm to incorporate.
 1970s  
1971    The firm became the first large Florida law firm to hire a black attorney, Eurich Griffin, who was later elected shareholder.
       
  1972   The firm’s now-Chairman Emeritus, Wm. Reece Smith., Jr., was sworn in as president of The Florida Bar.
       
  1977   The firm opened its Tallahassee office.
 1980s  
1980    Reece Smith became president of the American Bar Association.
       
  1987   The firm became one of the first large Florida law firms to promote a black woman attorney, Mary Scriven, to shareholder. She is now a U.S. federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
       
  1988   Reece Smith was elected president of the International Bar Association.
 1990s  
1991   The firm opened its West Palm Beach office.
       
  1992   The firm opened its St. Petersburg office.
       
  1995   The firm was renamed Carlton Fields.
       
  1997   The firm opened its Miami office.
       
  1999  

The firm became the first large Florida law firm to elect a woman, Sylvia Walbolt, to chair its Board of Directors.

The firm extended domestic partner benefits.

Carlton Fields shareholder Edith Osman was sworn in as president of The Florida Bar.

 2000s  
2001   Carlton Fields celebrated its 100th anniversary.

After long being a pioneer in diversity practices, the firm launched its formal diversity program.
       
  2004  

The firm opened its Atlanta office.

The firm established the Minority Lawyer Network.

       
  2005   The firm established the Women’s Initiative Network, piloted an outside mentoring program, and conducted formal firmwide diversity training.
       
  2007   The firm established the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network.
 2010s  

2011
 
Carlton Fields shareholder Gwynne Young was sworn in as president-elect of The Florida Bar.

The first annual Carlton Fields Diversity Scholarships were awarded.