Our Washington office opened in 1985 when, upon retiring from the U.S. Senate, Howard H. Baker, Jr. teamed up with partner Robert Worthington to bring the Baker Worthington firm to the nation's capital.
In 1988, Baker was called back to government service to be chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan. He returned to the firm at the conclusion of his White House service, and Baker Worthington became Baker Donelson when it merged with Heiskell Donelson in 1994.
Senator Baker's deep public policy experience was a great catalyst to the growth of our D.C. office, as he brought his own experience to bear upon the challenges of clients and recruited from among the best and brightest in government service to address the needs of business and industry.
In 2007, Senator Baker joined other former Senate majority leaders Bob Dole, George Mitchell and Tom Daschle to form the Bipartisan Policy Center, a public policy think tank charged with working across partisan divides and political parties to find common ground and workable policy and legal solutions.
Baker Donelson further expanded its presence in Washington through its 2017 merger with Ober|Kaler, a Baltimore-based law firm with offices in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia.
The work of Baker Donelson's Washington team mirrors the ethos of the center and is carried out by our staff of nearly 50 professionals, individuals who draw on their deep experience in politics, public policy, legislative advocacy, non-profit research foundations and strategic communications to advise clients.
In today's political environment, solutions to client problems often require an approach integrating many, if not all, of these areas of specialty. Members of our Washington team routinely collaborate with clients and one another to devise holistic, integrated and effective legal and policy solutions.
Our Washington office is also home to The Daschle Group, a public-policy advisory of Baker Donelson, and The Howard Baker Forum, a research and education organization which seeks to illuminate public policy challenges facing the nation today.
Members of our Washington team are active in the community, providing volunteer and charitable support to N Street Village and other community service organizations, as well as pro bono legal service to organizations addressing the needs of homeless Washingtonians, education for underprivileged children in Africa and domestic violence.