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OUR HISTORY
DUDLEY C. FOLEY, JR.
(1910 - 2006)
HAROLD B. JUDELL
(1915 - 2011)
At Foley & Judell, we trace our specialization in the field of municipal finance to the work of Henry L. Favrot, former Louisiana State senator from New Orleans. Sen. Favrot’s work in the legislature (1902-1916) led him to the study of land and road bonds, and he became recognized as an authority in the field.
Sen. Favrot partnered with Benjamin A. Campbell and Sigur Martin, who then partnered with Lewis R. Graham after Sen. Favrot’s passing. The firm represented many Louisiana municipalities during this time, often in connection with the large number of public works projects following World War I.
By 1933, Mr. Campbell was the only remaining member of the firm, and he began to mentor Dudley C. Foley, Jr., a recent graduate from Tulane Law School. In 1936, Mr. Campbell partnered with William Clay Holmes, former general counsel for the federal Public Works Administration, to form Campbell & Holmes. The new firm employed Mr. Foley as an associate.
Campbell & Holmes was short-lived, and World War II brought a slow down to local projects. Mr. Foley was appointed to the FBI, where he served throughout the War. When he returned to New Orleans and the practice of law, Mr. Foley and Mr. Campbell resumed their partnership. In 1949, they hired John W. Cox upon his graduation from Tulane Law School. Mr. Campbell passed away the same year.
In 1950, Mr. Foley hired Harold B. Judell, who had also served in the FBI during World War II, to work with he and Mr. Cox. The next year, the three men formed Foley, Cox & Judell. Foley, Cox & Judell became the first Louisiana-based firm whose bond opinions were regularly accepted by major investment banks without a confirming opinion from a national law firm.
Mr. Cox left to form his own firm in 1965, creating Cox, Bagot & Huppenbauer, which prospered under various names, eventually becoming Cox, Huppenbauer & Osborne. Messrs. Foley and Judell meanwhile continued to expand their firm, bringing on additional partners and eventually becoming Foley Judell Beck Bewley Martin & Hicks.
For 20 years, the two firms competed for the majority of the bond business in Louisiana until merging together on January 1, 1985. The new partnership took the name "Foley & Judell, L.L.P." which is still in use today.
In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Louisiana Coast, the firm temporarily relocated all attorneys and staff to its Baton Rouge office, arranging and paying for housing for staff members while there. From confined quarters, they worked to aid Louisiana's recovery while rebuilding their own homes and lives. The firm was heavily involved in the incurrence of local community disaster loans, drafted legislation to permit the State to assist with debt service payments on outstanding bonds of local governments in the affected area and served as bond counsel to the State of Louisiana and several local entities in connection with borrowings that provided the funds to reconstruct the area.
The attorneys that make up today’s Foley & Judell benefit from the firm’s past experience and continue its storied tradition of excellence and solution-oriented service.
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