Firm
Our History
A native of Indianapolis, Lewis Bose graduated from Arsenal Technical High School and attended Swarthmore, a liberal arts college in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1942 and after graduation Lew was called up for military duty in World War II, where he served in the United States Navy. After the war, Lew began practicing law with one of the largest law firms in Indianapolis. He found the firm too large and the circumstances too stifling and in 1953, he set out on his own to form what he called, "a different kind of law firm" in which service to clients and friendships were top priorities.
In 1955 Lew partnered with Charles Cook and Paul Buchanan and founded Cook Bose & Buchanan. Lew accepted a side position on the prosecutor's staff in what was then known as the "police courts." It was a time of great reform and Lew learned a great deal as a deputy prosecutor.
Lew met William Evans, also a native of Indianapolis. William attended Shortridge High School, Princeton University, Harvard Law School and George Washington University Law School. Bill, like Lew, was a war veteran having served in both World War II and the Korean War. In 1957, Bill Evans was asked into the law partnership and the firm was renamed Cook Bose Buchanan & Evans.
In 1955, the firm was employed to provide legislative services for Warren Township Schools. This began a concentration in education law that continues to this day. Lew helped to draft the School Consolidation Act of 1959 which drastically changed the method of education in Indiana. The one-room school house format of the past was eliminated and curriculum requirements were set. Among the firm's many notable legal achievements in education was the representation of three Marion County township schools in the Indianapolis school desegregation litigation. To this day, Bose McKinney & Evans provides legal services to the majority of approximately 300 school districts in the State of Indiana.
The small law firm did more than school law, however. As James Seidensticker, the first associate hired by the firm in 1958 remembered, "The practice was general to the utmost. We literally did everything from A to Z - Abatement to Zoning. You might defend a drunk operator in the morning, return to the office to prepare a lease, see witnesses for a personal injury case in the afternoon and finish your day by drafting a will."
In 1963, Robert McKinney, an Indianapolis lawyer and a good friend of Bill Evans, was added as a name partner to the firm. Bob was born and raised in Indianapolis and had numerous business interests in the city. Most notably, Bob had connections in the banking and investment fields. Bob was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, the Naval Justice School, and Indiana University School of Law. He served in the Navy for three years following his graduation from Annapolis and for two years during the Korean War. Charles Cook moved to Of Counsel and the firm was again renamed Bose Buchanan McKinney & Evans.
