History

In 2009, Higgs Fletcher & Mack celebrated 70 years in the practice of law in San Diego. The following is a historical perspective of the evolution of Higgs Fletcher & Mack, one of San Diego's oldest, largest and most respected law firms.

1938

Dutch Higgs and Ferd Fletcher become acquainted during a lawsuit in which they are on opposite sides. They begin playing golf together and on January 1, 1939 form their partnership, Higgs & Fletcher.

1939

The firm begins in the Bank of America Building at 6th and Broadway, when there were only three main buildings in San Diego for attorneys: Bank of America, First National, and San Diego Trust & Savings.

1940-42

William A. Glen, a deputy district attorney with the county counsel's office, joins the firm which becomes Higgs Fletcher & Glen.

Thanks to Ferd's father, Senator Ed Fletcher, the Statue of Cabrillo is brought to San Diego from Oakland in 1940 and dedicated on Point Loma.

1942

During World War II, when Mr. Higgs and Mr. Glen departed for the service and Mr. Fletcher remained to manage the practice, Eugene Miller joined the firm which then became Miller, Higgs Fletcher & Glen.

1943

Mr. Fletcher volunteers for the Navy and becomes an intelligence officer.

1945-46

Mr. Higgs, Mr. Glen, and Mr. Fletcher return from the service.

1948

San Diego's first freeway, the Cabrillo Freeway through Balboa Park, completed.

After his discharge, Mr. Fletcher returned to defend property owners against the federal government in Kearney Mesa, Camp Gillespie, El Cajon, and Coronado.

Governor Earl Warren appoints Mr. Glen to the Superior Court, and the firm becomes Miller, Higgs & Fletcher.

Mr. Higgs serves as City Attorney for Chula Vista (1940-42 and 1946-47).

1949

Mr. Higgs negotiates a deal by which Rohr Industries moves to Chula Vista as the aviation industry gives way to the aerospace industry.

1949-50

The firm serves as special counsel to the Cities of Chula Vista, Coronado, Del Mar, and Imperial Beach.

1950

Mr. Fletcher represents the development of the Lomas Santa Fe community, as well as the Ed Fletcher Company, Cameron Brothers Construction, and Tech Built Construction Company, as well as the Armed Services YMCA.

1953

Ferd Fletcher elected President of the San Diego County Bar Association.

Henry Pitts Mack, former Chief Deputy District Attorney for San Diego County, left Gray, Cary, Ames & Frye and joins the firm, which becomes Miller, Higgs Fletcher & Mack, and later Higgs Fletcher & Mack.

1954

Mr. Fletcher elected President of the San Diego Society for Crippled Children, the organization that built Children's Hospital, and serves on the board for 25 years.

1955

Mr. Higgs becomes the first San Diegan elected President of the Board of Governors of the California State Bar, where he had served from 1952-1955.

1957

The firm builds its own building at 3rd and Juniper, which it occupies until 1963.

1960

Mr. Higgs co-chairs Proposition 1 that brings Northern California water to Southern California.

1962

Ferd Fletcher is hired to assist in the development of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where he later becomes General Counsel, Member of the Board of Trustees, and Secretary.

Home Federal Savings & Loan Association builds the Home Tower at 7th and Broadway, the first high rise constructed during the rejuvenation period of Downtown San Diego.

1963

The firm moves to Home Tower after outgrowing its own building at 3rd and Juniper.

1964

University of California opened its 1,000 acre campus in La Jolla.

1965

Higgs Fletcher & Mack merges with the firm of Jennings, Engstrand & Hendrickson and becomes Higgs, Jennings, Fletcher & Mack.

1966

Mr. Higgs becomes the first San Diegan appointed to the University of California Board of Regents, and serves 16 years.

1971

The firm demerges from Jennings, Engstrand & Hendrickson and once again becomes Higgs Fletcher & Mack.

Ferd Fletcher, as pro bono counsel, worked with the Committee of 100 to rebuild and preserve the Casa Del Prado, Case De Balboa, Organ Pavilion, and the House of Hospitality facade.

Higgs Fletcher & Mack represents Chase Manhattan in bankruptcy litigation after the $50 million collapse of U.S. Financial Corp.

Also during the '70s, Higgs Fletcher & Mack also successfully represents approximately 35 insurance companies and their insured after the Pine Hills, Ramona, and Laguna Mountain fires.

1972

Mr. Fletcher serves on the board and as Chairman of the San Diego Economic Development Corporation, as well as serving on the board of the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce.

The North San Diego County office established in Escondido on North Grand Avenue by Merv Thompson and Charles Marvin, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Escondido Chamber of Commerce.

1974

Higgs Fletcher & Mack co-counsels for plaintiffs in Metromedia v. City of San Diego over the city's outdoor billboard ban. The suit is eventually resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court by a summary judgment on First Amendment grounds.

1976

The North County office relocates to Escondido Boulevard.

1981

Craig Higgs, son of Dutch Higgs, co-founds the University of San Diego Law Center and later the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program in cooperation with the Legal Aid Society.

1983

Higgs Fletcher & Mack moves to the Columbia Center, our current home.

1984

Craig Higgs becomes the fourth partner and fifth member of HF&M to be elected President of the San Diego County Bar Association.

1988

Higgs Fletcher & Mack settles the decades-old Indian water rights lawsuit regarding the San Luis Rey River, and the North San Diego County office moves to the Escondido National Bank Building on West Valley Parkway.

1995

Several prominent jurists begin a campaign to name the new courthouse the DeWitt A. Higgs Hall of Justice after his passing in 1994. The effort fails, but a bust of Mr. Higgs is placed in the foyer of the building next year.

1996

HF&M starts the new year as Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP, a limited liability partnership, and decides to close the Escondido office at the end of February.

1999

Higgs celebrates its 60th anniversary by taking over the top two floors of First National Bank Building and merging with McInnis, Fitzgerald, Rees and Sharkey to become the 6th largest firm in San Diego County.

2008-2009

The firm renews its lease at the Columbia Center for 10 more years, and begins a major facelift of the reception area, including replacing the spiral stairwell.