Ralph Baxter: Before and After

One more outtake from Kellie Schmitt's look at how Orrick has affected Wheeling, West Virginia.  As she and her camera were escorted through the firm's successful Global Operations Center, she was shown into the office maintained for its S.F.-based chairman, Ralph Baxter.  She caught sight of a framed photo on Baxter's desk-away-from-desk, a black-and-white from, circa 1969-1971, when Baxter taught in Washington, D.C. Readers of The Recorder will see this shot in Monday's paper, but we didn't have room to squeeze it into our Cal Law presentation.  But, you know, material like this you can't let go to waste.

So, here you see Mr. B as he is today — the stylin', smilin' force of nature heading a confident, fast-growing law firm (No. 27 on the just-released AmLaw 100).  After the jump, see Ralph (and his sideburns) as they were back when the unpopular Republican president was Richard Nixon, America's unwinnable war was in Vietnam, and the biggest album in the month of May was Hair (1969), Bridge over Troubled Water (1970) or Jesus Christ, Superstar (1971).

Click to enlarge, of course. 

More fun facts about the early seventies: There were no cell phones or cable TV. While there was no Internet, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton wouldn't be born for a decade, so there wouldn't have been anything to blog about, anyway.  We're reliably told that big-firm associates only had to bill 14 hours a year, and first-years were paid in shiny beads and henna tattoos.  Sean Connery had one official Bond film left in him, and the nation faced severe shortages of gasoline and barbers.

—  Brian McDonough