Reed Smith LLP is a global law firm headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with more than 1,500 lawyers in 30 offices throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. History Reed Smith was founded in Pittsburgh in 1877 by Philander C. Knox and James H. Reed. The two partners created a relationship with American industrial tycoon, Andrew Carnegie, and the firm grew with Carnegie's business. Large businesses, such as Heinz (company), and personalities – many of whom, like Carnegie, Knox and Reed, were fellow members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club – joined the firm's client roster, including Andrew Mellon (now The Bank of New York Mellon) and Henry Clay Frick. During the 1880s, Edwin W. Smith and other partners joined the firm and, in 1922, the firm adopted the name Reed Smith Shaw & McClay. During the New Deal era, Reed Smith established a securities practice, and partner Ralph H. Demmler became chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Despite a clear history of refusing repair work to the South Fork Dam, which had been advocated by, most especially, general manager of the Cambria Iron Company and member of the 40th United States Congress and of the 41st United States Congress, Daniel Johnson Morrell, who had become a member for the express purpose of monitoring the dam's condition; club members Knox and Reed were able to fend off four lawsuits seeking responsibility for the Johnstown Flood of 1889 against the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, stewards of the dam, Colonel Unger, its president, and against 50 named members. Each case was "either settled or discontinued and, as far as is known, no one bringing action profited thereby." The Club was never held legally responsible for the disaster. Knox and Reed successfully argued that the dam's failure was a natural disaster which was an Act of God, and no legal compensation was paid to the survivors of the flood. The perceived injustice aided the acceptance of “strict, joint, and several liability,” so that a “non-negligent defendant could be held liable for damage caused by the unnatural use of land. From 1970 to the present, the firm engaged in a series of mergers and acquisitions to create one of the largest law firms in the world. In the 1970s, Reed Smith set up office in Washington, DC and in 1989, merged with Washington firm Pierson, Ball &