Starting a Law Practice in 1913
Philip Steptoe and Louis A. Johnson opened their firm in Clarksburg, West Virginia, in 1913. The timing mattered. Coal and oil powered the state, utilities were spreading, and labor disputes were common. Clients came straight from those industries. The young firm did not need to look far for work.
Philip Steptoe’s Local Approach
Steptoe made his mark close to home. He built the practice around steady service to local businesses, coal operators, and utilities. The cases were not small. A dispute over a mine or a utility often affected entire towns. His work earned the firm a reputation for being practical and reliable, a reputation that stuck.
Steptoe’s legacy shows up in the firm’s continued focus on West Virginia industries. His name is tied to the idea that a law firm should serve the community around it first.
Louis A. Johnson’s Broader Vision
Johnson looked outward. He believed a West Virginia firm could take part in larger debates. In 1928, he helped open an office in Charleston. That move gave the practice a presence in the state capital, where regulators and larger companies were based.
But Johnson wanted more. After World War II he led the opening of a Washington, D.C., office in November 1945. The federal government was playing a bigger role in energy and labor regulation. Johnson wanted the firm involved at that level. His decision gave the practice both a local and national identity.
Two Founders, Two Directions
By the 1970s the firm had offices in Clarksburg, Charleston, and Washington. The mix reflected the two founders’ different strengths. Steptoe kept the focus on local industries—coal, oil, minerals, and utilities. Johnson built connections in Washington, D.C., tying the firm to federal regulation and national issues.
The dual identity did not last. In 1980 the firm split. The Washington, D.C. office became Steptoe & Johnson Chartered, now Steptoe LLP. The West Virginia offices continued as Steptoe & Johnson PLLC. The division was a formal acknowledgment of the paths set by the founders—one more regional, the other more national.
Their Influence After the Split
Even decades later, their imprint remained. The PLLC kept the character Steptoe had built: steady representation for industries rooted in Appalachia and the mid Atlantic. The LLP pursued Johnson’s national ambitions from Washington, D.C. Each reflected one founder’s vision carried forward.
How Their Legacy Lives On
Today, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC is based in Bridgeport, West Virginia, with 18 offices across the U.S. Its practice is still built around business counseling, labor and employment, litigation, and energy law—especially oil, gas, and minerals. Those subjects are the same ones Philip Steptoe worked on in the firm’s earliest days.
At the same time, the firm has expanded into Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma. That broader footprint recalls Johnson’s outward vision. Later leaders carried the work further, but the idea of expansion began with him.
Remembering Steptoe and Johnson
Philip Steptoe gave the firm stability. He tied it to local industries and built trust by focusing on practical, community-based service. Louis A. Johnson gave the firm reach. He believed its lawyers could play a role beyond West Virginia and made choices that set the firm on that path.
Together they left a dual legacy. One emphasized local reliability; the other looked outward to national growth. More than a century later, their names still frame the letterhead. They remain reminders of how two different visions shaped one enduring firm.
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