GREENFIELD — Two members of the Greenfield Area Chamber of Commerce — Allen Wellman McNew Harvey, LLP and Dickmann Reason Bogigian & White –celebrated 100 years of business this year.
Allen Wellman McNew Harvey, LLP
One of the more historical, spectacular cases the firm tackled was the prosecution of “Mrs. Bluebeard,” a Hancock County woman accused of poisoning of her husband, leading to his death.
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The case was tried in March 1922, by the firm’s founding attorney Waldo Ging.
In 2018, the Greenfield Law Firm, now called Allen Wellman McNew Harvey, LLP, turned 100 years old. From the spectacular trials of yesteryear to new ones popping up every day, it’s been a wonderful opportunity serving an organization with such a rich background, said attorneys Eric N. Allen and Kevin G. Harvey, who have helped lead the firm since 1977 and 1997 respectively.
It’s something to be proud of, working for a firm with such a storied history, Allen said.
Harvey and Allen describe their organization as a full-service law firm, rather than using the term “general practice,” to emphasize how the lawyers employed in the firm cover a wide variety of legal expertise, from trials to commercial litigation, they said.
The age of their firm has led to an experienced staff, a trait that inevitably will always lead to a successful practice, Harvey said. They regularly encourage their attorneys to be involved, giving back to the small town and county in which they serve, he said.
“We’ve had a long-term impact on the community in terms of its development, its growth, its history,” Harvey said. “The tradition and reputation that gets built over a long period of time has value. There’s a lot of length and tenure here.”
It certainly comes in handy to have a network of people who know their way around a courtroom, Allen said.
“Not a day goes by that a partner or associate of the firm asks me about something they don’t have experience with and I can help them,” Allen said. “And of course there are areas that I’m unfamiliar with too, and I can ask them.”
Lawyers are a pretty strong-headed bunch of people, Allen said with a laugh. Keeping a firm together for 100 years is not an easy feat, a feat that requires good-hearted people.
“Lawyers have egos and frequently end up having conflicts amongst partners,” We don’t have that; that’s what makes this place run so smoothly. And it’s been that way in the history of the firm.”
During his time there, he’s seen remarkable changes in the county they serve, Allen added.
“The town has grown so dramatically,” he said. “When I first came here, they had just finished up making State Road 9 into four lanes from McKenzie. Before, it was all just farmland up there.”
The history of the firm is honored by the upkeep up the firm’s library and research room, Harvey said. In the center of the room lies an open, century old book, signed on its front cover by Waldo Ging.
This summer, the firm took a break from the law books to hold a centennial celebration, taking a day to make a staff trip to the Indianapolis Zoo, Harvey said.
Dickmann Reason Bogigian and White
In 100 years of business, the law practice of Dickmann Reason Bogigian and White has only ever been run by five people.
Each owner strove to play the role of a tight-knit practice serving the small community they’d known and loved. After having experienced the life of a lawyer in a big city, Jason White said he was proud to return to the small town life, honoring his predecessors’ legacy.
The legal practice was founded in 1918 by George Dickmann. White, the current owner of the firm, purchased the practice from Bob Bogigian and Roger Reason in 2015.
White –born and raised in Hancock County — is currently the sole attorney in his practice, which specializes in estate planning and elder law. There are plans in motion for more partners to come on board in the near future, he said.
White is passionate for protecting the county’s aging citizens, a group of people that is frequently taken advantage of, White said. His firm has a specialized and narrow focus, dealing with wills, trusts and estate handling.
“I’m probably one of the few attorneys that doesn’t like conflict,” White laughed. “Most of the stuff I do is non-conflict oriented. My clients come in here, just trying to solidify their own financial and long-term estate plan.”
“I know there’s a need for that in the community,” he added. “There’s definitely a population (of senior citizens) that needs to be worked with and protected here in Hancock County.”
Victoria Addleman, White’s legal assistant, said she loves working in the small-town firm, which has given her invaluable experience while she completes her collegiate paralegal studies.
“We all know each other, we know each others’ families,” Addleman said. “There’s that personal feel to it that you can’t get at a larger firm like in Indianapolis.”
Her experience working with White has allowed her to grow personally and professionally, thanks to the firm’s patience and the strong relationships she’s built among their clientele.
“I definitely wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for the chances they’ve given me,” Addleman said.
“I’ve grown a lot in a lot of different ways; I probably would have yelled at me for some of the mistakes I made when I first started,” she continued with a giggle.
For years, White himself worked in a larger firm in downtown Indianapolis, he said. But he didn’t realize just how much he would miss the day to day interactions with familiar friends he’d made over the course of his life.
So White moved his professional life back to Greenfield, a community he’d known his whole life; the small town in which he’d umpired hundreds of school baseball games and volunteered in multiple community organizations.
“I enjoy the face-to-face interaction,” White said. “I have a genuine caring for these people because of the fact that we are in a small town and we see each other frequently.”
Now, he’ll have clients pop into his office throughout the week just to say hello or drop off some candy, he said.
Whether it’s a mechanic, a financial adviser or a lawyer, in a small town, people prefer to hire someone they know on a personal level, he said.
“That’s important to me, that these people have someone they can trust to handle whatever you need them to,” White said.
