Firm Founders - Took Crowell, Crowell & Moring LLP

In 1979, the founding partners of what would become AmLaw 100 firm Crowell & Moring LLP wanted to create a different kind of practice, and that meant stepping out to create a new firm all on their own. Founding partner Eldon H. (“Took”) Crowell led the charge and built a legacy dedicated to public service, diversity, and client service that remains vibrant today.

Mr. Crowell was born in Middletown, Conn., on May 15, 1924. After service in the Army/Air Corps in World War II, he graduated from Princeton University, cum laude, and the University of Virginia School of Law.

His legal career started in 1951 as an associate at the Washington, DC firm of Cummings & Stanley, where he worked as an assistant to Homer Cummings, the former Attorney General under President Franklin Roosevelt. He was a partner in the successor firms of Cummings & Sellers and Sellers, Conner & Cuneo, where he focused on international and government contracts law.

In 1970, he joined Reavis Pogue Neal & Rose (which became part of Jones Day), and started a government contracts practice. Within a few years, the practice became one of the leading government contracts practices in the country, representing many major government contractors, including Boeing, United Technologies, Honeywell, IBM, Northrop, Lockheed, and TRW.

However, in 1979, Jones Day management sought to oust Mr. Crowell and his government contracts team of lawyers. In what The Washington Post reported as “The Split,” more than 50 of the Washington lawyers terminated their relationship with Jones Day and founded Crowell & Moring. Mr. Crowell served as the firm’s chairman in its first years.

In 1990, Mr. Crowell retired as a partner and became senior counsel to the firm, actively promoting its leading pro bono service program. He encouraged Crowell & Moring lawyers and staff to understand what he called the “soul” of his firm, and instead of hosting parties for summer associates, Mr. Crowell loaded them on buses to visit homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and nonprofit associations. The so-called “Took tour” led many to take on pro bono assignments.

Mr. Crowell arranged for Crowell & Moring to be the very first firm in the nation to sponsor a lawyer through the Equal Justice Works postgraduate fellowship program, and later helped to grow the fellowship program from seven fellowships in 1993 to more than 100 in 1998, making it the nation’s largest postgraduate fellowship program for lawyers. Today, the firm’s commitment lives on, with the firm’s lawyers contributing more than 35,000 hours in pro bono legal services annually to low-income and underrepresented individuals and deserving nonprofits. Crowell & Moring was the first DC-based firm to elect a full-time public service partner and has twice been honored as DC Bar Pro Bono Firm of the Year in Washington.

Crowell & Moring has grown to a firm of more than 500 lawyers with offices in Washington, Orange County, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and Brussels. The firm’s practice extends to a wide range of specialties and still serves many of the same clients it advised in 1979, the day it opened its doors. The firm is internationally recognized for its representation of Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes litigation, as well as its ongoing commitment to pro bono service and diversity.