For nearly two centuries since the Firm’s founding in 1819, our clients have called upon us to help with their most challenging legal issues, significant business transactions and critical disputes. Similarly, we have seen that most major developments in our nation—whether positive or negative—create the need for talented legal counsel. Beginning with two of our founders, William H. Seward and Richard M. Blatchford, Cravath attorneys have accepted important government service roles during some of the most significant and challenging times and have served as advisors to some of the country’s most prominent leaders.

William H. Seward served as President Lincoln’s Secretary of State, served in the New York State Senate and U.S. Senate and was Governor of New York. He was one of the targets of the conspirators who assassinated President Lincoln, and nearly lost his life in April 1865.

Richard M. Blatchford also served in the Lincoln Administration and was, among other positions, the country’s Ambassador to the Vatican.

John J. McCloy was a partner at Cravath until his appointment as Assistant to the Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, in 1940. Mr. McCloy was a key advisor to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman during World War II and, after the war, served as the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany—essentially governing West Germany in the post-war era. He later advised President Eisenhower on arms control and President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Mr. McCloy served on the Warren Commission, investigating President Kennedy’s assassination, and served as consultant to President Johnson on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He also worked closely with Presidents Nixon and Ford.

Alfred McCormack, a partner at Cravath, followed Mr. McCloy in government service. Mr. McCormack served as Deputy Chief of Special Branch in the Military Intelligence Service of the U.S. War Department, and later as Director of Intelligence of the Military Intelligence Service. In 1945, he was appointed Special Assistant to the Secretary of State and, after resigning from the State Department, returned in 1947 to Cravath, where he practiced until his retirement in 1956.

In the 1950s, Roswell L. Gilpatric, who served as Presiding Partner of the Firm from 1966 to 1977, was Assistant Secretary and subsequently Under Secretary of the Air Force in the Truman Administration. In the early 1960s, he was Deputy Secretary of Defense under President Kennedy. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Mr. Gilpatric played a key role as a member of President Kennedy’s Executive Committee of the National Security Council. For several critical days in October 1962, the U.S. and the Soviet Union came close to war over the placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba, aimed at our nation. In a piece written about the crisis, Robert Kennedy described how much President Kennedy respected Mr. Gilpatric’s “calm judgment” in the face of this serious emergency.

Litigation Senior Counsel Frederick (“Fritz”) A. O. Schwarz, Jr. served as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activity in the 1970s. This committee investigated alleged abuse of power and violations of intelligence laws during the Cold War. In the 1980s, Mr. Schwarz also served as Corporation Counsel and Head of the Law Department of New York City during the Koch Administration. In 1989, he chaired the committee that substantially revised the City’s Charter.

Robert D. Joffe, the Firm’s Presiding Partner from 1999 to 2006, left the Firm as an associate to serve in the Ministry of Justice to the Government of Malawi, where he helped in rewriting the country’s laws and instituting a framework for supervision of the local courts.

After 25 years as a partner at Cravath, John W. White left the Firm to serve as Director of the Division of Corporation Finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission. From March 2006 to December 2008, he led the Division through one of the most significant and prolific rulemaking periods of its history. In January 2009, Mr. White returned to the Firm where he is currently the Head of the Corporate Department and Co-Chair of the Corporate Governance and Board Advisory practice.

Corporate partner Timothy G. Massad served as a special legal advisor to the Congressional Oversight Panel created under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. He returned to the Firm in 2009 and was subsequently called back to the Department of the Treasury as the Chief Counsel for the Office of Financial Stability, which runs the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). More recently, Mr. Massad was appointed the Acting Head of the Office of Financial Stability.

Retired partner Patricia M. Geoghegan also joined the Treasury Department, where she is currently serving as the Acting Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation.

Former litigation partner Katherine B. Forrest was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a Federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in October 2011. Katherine previously served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice, where she oversaw operations for the criminal and civil program in the Department’s Antitrust Division.

Just to mention several of our many former associates who have gone on to serve in government, Deborah Batts and John Gleeson currently serve as Federal judges in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, respectively. William O. Douglas, the longest-serving justice in the history of the Supreme Court, whose term lasted from 1939 to 1975, also began his career as a Cravath associate.

Our distinguished history of public service underscores our reputation for excellence. We are extraordinarily proud of the long line of Cravath attorneys who began their professional careers with us, who were called upon by the nation, state or city during times of need and who have accepted government service roles.