Law in the New West

Few scholars have contributed as much to the study of the ever dynamic American West as has Jack August Jr., which is why his study of the role played in the growth of Arizona and other Southwestern states by the Snell & Wilmer law practice is such a compelling read.

Founded in 1938 by the Arizona immigrants Frank Snell and Mark Wilmer, Snell & Wilmer, along with its clients and civic-minded Arizonans, played an important part in converting a rural backwater into a state that has had a major impact on the political and economic life of the United States.

The firm’s founders early on combined the practice of law with the practice of good citizenship, and became important—and some say, dominant—players in the development of Arizona and the Phoenix metropolitan area and, indeed, of the American Southwest. Frank Snell became renowned as one of the foremost civic activists of a growing Phoenix; he lobbied for the construction of major interstate highways and airports worthy of a regional center. Mark Wilmer was known as one of the great trial lawyers of the United States; in the landmark United States Supreme Court case Arizona v. California, Wilmer was critical in making available to Arizona the water necessary to its spectacular growth.

August does not limit his study of Snell & Wilmer to its impact on Arizona and the Southwest. With a unique insider’s perspective, August follows the practice’s continued growth even as the legal profession changed over the years, and traces how it adhered to its founding principles while evolving new management structures to cope with economic and technological change. The growth of the firm that has become one of the premier legal firms in the United States and the growth of the Southwest itself are inextricably intertwined.