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Lew soon came into contact with William Evans, an Indianapolis native, who
attended Shortridge High School, Princeton University,
Harvard Law School and George Washington University Law School. Bill was also a war
veteran, having served in both
World War II and the Korean War. In 1957 Bill Evans was taken into the
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 changed the method of education in Indiana. The one-room school house 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, especially 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, as well as for two years during the Korean War. Charles Cook moved to
Of Counsel, and the firm was again
renamed Bose Buchanan McKinney & Evans.
In 1964 the firm hired Robert Kassing as
a young associate. Bob was the managing partner of the firm from 1971 to early
2004. Another lawyer who
joined the firm in the early 1960s, John Wynne, became the
partner in residence of the firm's new satellite office on the north side of
Indianapolis in 1968. In an adjacent office, Phil Duke and Charlie Jackson
were in business. John and Phil became acquainted, and eventually decided
to form a development business together. Starting the business on a
shoestring, they began what is now Duke Realty Corporation. As their
business began to flourish, they recruited a lawyer from the firm to act as in-house
counsel, and thus began the long history of the firm serving the real estate
industry.
In 1971 Paul Buchanan was elected to the Appellate Court, and the firm name
became Bose McKinney & Evans. For three years, from 1977 to 1980 Bob
McKinney left the firm to become Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank in
Washington, D.C., and the firm briefly became Bose & Evans. When he
returned to the firm in 1980, the firm once again became Bose McKinney &
Evans, and with this name it would remain.
In 1984 professional football came to Indianapolis with the arrival of the
Indianapolis Colts from Baltimore, Maryland. Bose McKinney & Evans was
hired to provide legal services for the owner, who was facing a barrage of
lawsuits in Maryland. Bose McKinney & Evans was able to get the
lawsuits out of Maryland and lay jurisdiction with the Federal District Court in
Indianapolis. A great lawsuit ensued, but the Colts were in Indianapolis
to stay.
The firm has experienced continued growth to this day. In 1953 Lew Bose
headed out on his own to form a "different kind of law firm," one
where friendships were important and excellence was mandatory. More than
50 years later, the firm has grown to more than 100 attorneys. With our
strong foundation and rich past, the firm looks forward to an even more
productive future.
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