History

Today’s Whitfield & Eddy is a product of its experience. The firm was formed on August 6, 1928, when Allen Whitfield and Joseph H. Allen began sharing offices. During its early years, the firm of Whitfield & Allen employed two lawyers and one secretary. Edgar Musgrave joined the firm in 1932. In 1936 Allen ceased his active involvement in the firm and the name was changed to Whitfield & Musgrave.

During World War II, most of the attorneys in the office went on active duty in the armed forces. Walter W. Selvy joined the firm from the Polk County Attorney’s Office, and he managed the office through the World War II years under the name of Whitfield, Musgrave & Selvy.

With the end of the war and the veterans’ return, the firm once again began to grow with an emphasis on litigation and a particular emphasis on insurance defense and product liability. By 1969, the firm was known as Whitfield, Musgrave, Selvy, Kelly & Eddy. The firm has continued to expand to its current size of more than 50 attorneys. The firm’s expansion is due in part to multiple mergers, including a merger with Bridges & Frampton, a Des Moines firm with roots dating back to 1924 when Wilbur Bridges opened that practice; Adams & Rice, P.L.C.; Reavely Law Firm; Mark R. Gray, Esq.; the construction law group from the former Pingel & Templer, P.C.

During the past eighty years, the practice of law has obviously become more diverse and challenging. The firm has met this challenge through hiring and training attorneys to concentrate on specific areas of law, while at the same time maintaining the flexibility that has made the firm responsive to the changing needs of its clients for eight decades. While Whitfield & Eddy, P.L.C. is one of Iowa’s oldest firms, its constant evolution has allowed it to keep pace with a changing world and changing economic conditions by investing in new talent and technology.

Today, the firm reflects the value of knowledge and experience garnered by the Whitfield & Eddy lawyers through eighty years of representing a diverse client base. The firm has succeeded in stable growth and expansion by passing on to the younger lawyers the value of knowledge and experience learned, while taking full advantage of the new talent that continues to fuel the firm’s talent pool. Whitfield & Eddy is dedicated to continuing to provide legal services of the highest quality with the greatest efficiency.