{{Short description|Law firm}} {{main|K&L Gates}} {{Infobox company | name = Preston Gates & Ellis | logo = 235px|Preston Gates & Ellis | type = Limited Liability Partnership | foundation = 1883 | location = Seattle, Washington, U.S. | key_people = | num_employees = | industry = Law | products = Legal services | revenue = | dissolved = 2007 (merged into K&L Gates) | homepage = {{URL|http://www.prestongates.com}} }}
'''Preston Gates & Ellis, LLP''', also known as '''Preston Gates''', was a law firm with offices in the United States, China, and Taiwan. Its main office was in the IDX Tower in Seattle. In 2007, the firm merged with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham to form K&L Gates.<ref name="wsjblog">{{cite news |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2006/12/15/introducing-kl-gates/ |title=Introducing . . . K&L Gates! |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |first=Ashby |last=Jones |date=December 15, 2006 |access-date=November 26, 2010 |archive-date=May 20, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100520040336/http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2006/12/15/introducing-kl-gates/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
The "Gates" in the firm's name refers to William H. Gates Sr., father of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.<ref name="cochair">{{cite web |url=http://www.gatesfoundation.org/leadership/Pages/william-gates-sr.aspx |title=William H. Gates Sr., Co-Chair |access-date=November 26, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110304022541/http://www.gatesfoundation.org/leadership/Pages/william-gates-sr.aspx |archive-date=March 4, 2011 }}</ref> Gates retired from the firm in 1998.
==History== ===19th century=== In 1883, Harold Preston, born 1858 in Illinois, the son of Brig. Gen. Simon Manly Preston, arrived in Seattle and established his own law practice.<ref>''A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of The City of Seattle and County of King, Washington'' (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1903), pages 118-120.</ref> Together with O.B. Thorgrimson, an attorney originally from Chicago, Preston expanded the practice throughout the early 1900s.
===20th century=== In 1924, Roger Shidler and George Harroun established another law firm based in Washington state. William H. Gates Sr. joined the firm in 1964, and as principal counsel expanded the firm's clients to include high technology, manufacturing, distribution, service and other businesses.
In 1949, Jim Ellis joined the firm '''Preston, Thorgrimson & Horowitz''', and was integral in involving the firm in public service projects for the city of Seattle, and opened the firm's Washington, D.C. office in 1973. Ellis eventually became a name partner in the firm, which was known in the 1980s as '''Preston Thorgrimson Ellis & Holman'''.<ref name="pgweb">[http://www.prestongates.com/firmProfile/history.asp Preston|Gates|Ellis LLP:Firm Profile::Our History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051031023837/http://www.prestongates.com/firmProfile/history.asp |date=2005-10-31 }}, Accessed on February 12, 2006.</ref>
In 1990, Shidler McBroom Gates and Lucas merged with Preston Thorgrimson Ellis & Holman to form Preston Thorgrimson Shidler Gates & Ellis, renamed in 1997 as '''Preston Gates & Ellis, LLP'''.<ref name="pgweb"/> The firm's office in Washington, D.C. is known as Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP. When it was opened in 1973, partners included Emanuel Rouvelas, former counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, and former U.S. Representative Lloyd Meeds (D-WA).<ref name="pgweb"/> Its major clients include Microsoft, which paid the firm over $1.3 million for lobbying various U.S. federal government departments and agencies. During this time, the firm's chairman was William Neukom, who was employed by Microsoft as head of its legal department.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/ms_tuncom/major/mtc-00030631_ex10.pdf | title=Exhibit 10 to the comments of Relpromax Antitrust Inc. | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061011003550/http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/ms_tuncom/major/mtc-00030631_ex10.pdf | archive-date=2006-10-11 }}</ref>
====Jack Abramoff scandals==== {{Further|Jack Abramoff controversies}} From 1994 until 2001, Jack Abramoff, associated with one of the largest lobbying scandals in U.S. history, was a lobbyist in the firm's Washington, D.C. office.<ref>{{cite news | publisher = The Seattle Times | title = How scheming lobbyist operated in Seattle firm | url = https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20060207/prestongates07m/how-scheming-lobbyist-operated-in-seattle-firm|author1=Postman, David |author2=Bernton, Hal|date = February 7, 2006 | access-date = August 17, 2006 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050926100532/http://www.prestongates.com/ Firm website]
{{Defunct law firms of the United States}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preston Gates and Ellis}} Category:Law firms established in 1883 Category:Law firms based in Seattle Category:Defunct law firms of the United States Category:Defunct companies based in Seattle Category:1883 establishments in Washington Territory Category:2007 disestablishments in Washington (state) Category:Law firms disestablished in 2007 Category:Jack Abramoff