By JODI SOKOLOWSKI
Buffalo Law Journal

To immortalize its history, Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel LLP has published a 135-page book, "The Merging of Titans: A History of the Law Firm that Bears Their Names."

The book was conceived by James Tanous, a former partner and executive committee chairman of the firm, and Randall Odza, a partner in its labor and employment practice group.

Odza said the idea for the book came about after the passing of one of their partners, John Putnam, in November 2005.

"A couple of us said, before we lose anymore hearsay memory, it's good to have people who didn't have any memory of (Edwin) Jaeckle or (Manly) Fleischmann to know the origins of the firm, because they set the foundation for this firm, its atmosphere and philosophies," Odza said.

The firm commissioned Edward Cuddihy, former managing editor of The Buffalo News, to write the book. Cuddihy was adamant about not writing an "advertorial" piece and insisted that the book be an accurate depiction of the firm's history and its founders.

"I said, ‘If you're interested in having me write a book about Ed Jaeckle and Manly Fleischmann and the people around them, I'm interested in doing that,' " he said.

Movers and shakers

Edwin Jaeckle, who died in 1992, and Manly Fleischmann, who died in 1987, founded the firm as Jaeckle Fleischmann Kelly Swart and Augspurger in April 1955. Albert Mugel, who died in 2003, joined the firm in the early 1970s.

Odza explained that while the book is more about the founders than their founding of the firm, it shows how those three, and other prominent partners, played an important role in not only Buffalo's, but the nation's, history.

Jaeckle, for example, ran Thomas Dewey's successful campaign for New York governor and two unsuccessful bids for U.S. president, including his historic misreported win against Harry S Truman.

Jaeckle's significant influence in the Republican party saw him leading "a group of reformers known as the ‘Young Turks' (who) would lead a revolt that would shake the state GOP organization and drag it into the modern era," Cuddihy wrote.

"If he were around today, we would be seeing him on 24/7 news. He was in the New York Times and the Washington Post all the time," Cuddihy said in an interview.

In researching the firm's heritage, Cuddihy and his wife, Irene Cuddihy, reviewed several hundred articles from newspapers in Buffalo, Washington, D.C., New York City and Chicago, as well as from national magazines such as Time and Harper's. They also examined Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society documents and family records relating to the founders.

The book, which took about a year to research and write, has a Library of Congress number and was donated to area libraries and universities. Copies were also donated to the Historical Society, which is selling the book and retaining the proceeds.

Other retrospectives

Jaeckle Fleischmann isn't the only firm in Western New York that has compiled a history.

Hodgson Russ, then Hodgson Russ Andrews Woods & Goodyear, produced a 165-page book, "A Law Firm and A City," published in 1981. The firm, founded in 1817, is considered to be the oldest in Western New York.

Harris Beach created a CD-ROM in conjunction with its 150th anniversary in 2006. The project won awards from the Legal Marketing Association and the Public Relations Society of America.

Nixon Peabody LLP, which dates to 1875, keeps a loose-leaf notebook that serves as "a compilation of all of the histories of the firms that Nixon Peabody has merged with," in the words of public-relations manager Whitney Murray, as well as 13 binders' worth of documentation about its chief predessessor, the Nixon Hargrave firm.

Damon & Morey, founded in 1917, assembled photographs and displays for its 90th anniversary party last year. Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC compliled a three-page history on the occasion of its centennial in 1997. Hurwitz & Fine PC generated a retrospective PowerPoint presentation, with photographs and funny stories, for its 25th anniversary five years ago.

Cuddihy said it's crucial for longstanding companies, not just law firms, to record their history for future generations.

"People knew where these things came from, but the generation that knew them as leaders is fading away fast," he said, citing a list of Western New York institutions and power brokers such as Fisher-Price, Frank Lloyd Wright, Seymour Knox, Roswell Park, the Larkins and the Schoellkopfs.

"The Merging of Titans" will help current and future attorneys and staff remember how the founders' "high standards" helped shape the firm, Odza said.

"You can trace our basic culture and philosophy back to Manly Fleischmann," he said. "Those basic principles have been carried forward since their time."