About the firm
Sixty years on the same side of the table.
The firm has represented closely held companies and their owners since 1962. It has never represented a lender against a borrower, a national acquirer against a founder, or an insurer against a claimant. The conflicts we avoid are the point.
01 — History
Founded on a declined engagement.
In 1962, James Hale and Frank Marrow were associates at a national firm that turned away a textile machinery company as too small to be worth the conflict check. They resigned, took the engagement, and spent the next thirty years building a practice out of the clients large firms decline. The machinery company sold in 1994; the firm handled the sale, and still acts for the family that founded it.
THE FILE ROOM
The firm keeps every closed file. Not out of nostalgia — because succession work done in 2026 turns on documents drafted in 1988, and the firm that drafted them should be able to find them.
02 — People
Eleven lawyers, listed the way we list everything.
2.1
Eleanor Hale
Managing partner — transactions, succession
2.2
David Marrow
Partner — tax structure
2.3
Priya Natarajan
Partner — owner disputes
2.4
Thomas Okafor
Partner — transactions
2.5
Ruth Calloway
Counsel — succession, governance
Six associates complete the roster. Biographies are provided on request — the work speaks in the consultation, not the headshot.
03 — Commitments
What the firm holds itself to.
Written fee quotes before work begins. A response to every client call within one business day. No engagement the firm would not staff with a partner. And a standing rule since 1962: if the right answer is that you don't need a lawyer, that is the advice — in writing, at no charge.