Bayard's half-century history includes an abundance of accomplished attorneys. The firm was founded in 1958 by two giants of Delaware's judiciary, Daniel L. Herrmann and William Duffy. Both men were graduates of the University of Delaware and World War II veterans. Mr. Herrmann received his legal training at Georgetown University Law Center and was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1940, while Mr. Duffy attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School and was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1948.

During the 1950s, Mr. Duffy had his own general practice in Wilmington while Mr. Herrmann served on the Delaware Superior Court. When Mr. Herrmann resigned from the bench in 1958, the two opened Herrmann & Duffy, with offices in the Continental American Building near the courthouse at 11th and King Streets.

In 1961, Mr. Duffy left the firm to accept an appointment to the Superior Court, marking the beginning of a distinguished judicial career. The following year he became the court's President Judge. In 1966, he was named Chancellor of Delaware, and then he was appointed to the Delaware Supreme Court in 1973, where he served until his retirement in 1982.

Alexis I. du Pont Bayard filled the vacancy left by Mr. Duffy, joining the firm in 1961. He had previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Delaware from 1948 to 1952, and ran a family publishing business. The Bayard family includes five successive generations of Delawareans serving as United States Senators. His mother was a direct descendant of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, founder of the Dupont Company, a world-renowned chemical company located in Wilmington, Delaware.
Mr. Herrmann left the firm in 1964 when he was appointed to the Delaware Supreme Court, where he rejoined Justice Duffy.

In 1984, the firm acquired the Wilmington law firm of Murdoch & Walsh, a tax boutique specializing in tax and business planning, and the combined firms became known as Bayard, Handelman & Murdoch. They relocated to the magnificent Art Deco office suite, once home to Hercules, Incorporated, on the 13th floor of the Delaware Trust Building.

Another pivotal event in the firm's history then occurred. In 1997, an evening fire broke out in the firm's file room, ultimately spreading to several floors of the Delaware Trust Building. When the fire was brought under control, the building was deemed unfit for occupation, forcing the firm and other building tenants to relocate overnight. Although all files and property were destroyed in the fire, the firm continued doing business the next day, initially operating out of a suite of rooms in the Hotel DuPont. A year later, the firm left its temporary post-fire quarters in the Farmers Bank Building and moved to its present location at 222 Delaware Avenue, in Wilmington's downtown business district. It remains there today.

The firm name has changed some over the years, but our rich tradition of delivering extraordinary expertise and service has remained the same.