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BRIEF HISTORY OF FLYNN, PY & KRUSE
Flynn, Py & Kruse is one of the oldest law firms in Ohio.
It has played a prominent role in the history of Erie County
and has been the preeminent law firm in the region for many
years.
Edmund B. King founded the firm in October 1875. Judge
King was born in Medina County in 1850 and became a lawyer in
1873, thereafter serving for two years as Medina County prosecutor
before coming to Erie County. He was a great community
leader of his time, having served in or lead many community,
charitable and Masonic organizations. His most notable
leadership roles included serving as a delegate to the 1912
Ohio Constitutional Convention, as a presidential elector for
President Benjamin Harrison in 1888, as president of the Ohio
Bar Association, and as a major in the Ohio National Guard.
In 1894, he was elected as a circuit judge for the Sixth Circuit
Judicial Court. The 1896 Illustrated Atlas and Directory
of Erie County referred to the great esteem in which the
citizens of Erie County held the firm’s founding partner.
Between the Spring of 1886 and August 1892, Civil War hero Elisha
Maffit Colver practiced law in partnership with Judge King.
In 1899, W. E. Guerin joined Judge King in the practice of law
and the firm became known as King & Guerin. In 1905,
Russell K. Ramsey, a 1900 graduate of the law school at The
Ohio State University, joined the firm and the same became known
as King Guerin & Ramsey. By 1914, the firm was known
as King, Ramsey & Pyle, having admitted Joseph G. Pyle.
In 1919, James F. Flynn, a 1909 graduate of the Cincinnati Law
School and former Erie County Prosecutor, was admitted to the
firm. The 1924 Centennial History of Erie County
stated “There is no one of the younger lawyers with better prospects
than he.” From about 1927, until 1939, the firm was known
as King, Ramsey & Flynn. In May 1939, the firm admitted
John R. Py and Richard R. Kruse, and became known as Flynn,
Frohman, Buckingham, Py & Kruse.
The firm assumed its present day name, Flynn, Py & Kruse,
in May 1946.
On May 23, 1980, the Ohio State Bar Association, at its centennial
meeting in Cleveland, honored Flynn, Py & Kruse for its
professional service to Ohio for more than 100 years.
In October 2000, the firm celebrated its sesquicentennial and
looking forward to its continued excellence in community leadership
and in the legal profession in the new millennium. |
