Charles Tillinghast, founder

PROVIDENCE –– Law firm Tillinghast Licht, with roots dating to at least 1818, announced yesterday that it will wind down business in the next few months, with six key lawyers joining Adler Pollock & Sheehan on May 19.

“The decision to close the firm stems in large part from the fact that in recent years the firm has become somewhat smaller, and the partners believe its current size could impact its ability to remain a full-service law firm,” the firm said in a statement.

The firm began the year with about 20 lawyers, according to managing partner David T. Riedel. “Right now, it’s probably closer to 10,” down from a peak of about 50 lawyers in the mid-1980s, he said. During a brief affiliation with a Boston firm that began in 2000, that count could be considered 100, if the lawyers in the Boston office were counted, he added.

But those numbers dropped sharply in recent years.

“It’s mostly people leaving for other jobs or retiring, and that’s been going on for a pretty long period of time,” Riedel said. “Our problem is, for whatever reason, it got to a certain point where to be full-service, it would’ve required a long-term plan.” But with many of the senior partners in their 60s, long-term planning didn’t make sense, he said.

In recent years, the firm has lacked depth, with no younger lawyers training under their more senior counterparts, Riedel said. As an example, he said, he is the only lawyer at the firm specializing in wills and estates.

Riedel is one of the six lawyers who will join Adler Pollock & Sheehan. “It’s certainly one way to achieve instant depth,” he said. Others joining him include former Lt. Gov. Richard A. Licht and former House Speaker Joseph DeAngelis.

Another key lawyer, former Warwick Mayor Joseph W. Walsh, will retire to concentrate on his business as a lobbyist.

Remaining lawyers plan to join other firms or strike out on their own to concentrate on their specialties.

The firm didn’t handle criminal cases, so it did not have headline-grabbing cases. But, Licht said, it had its hand in several key developments in Rhode Island, including formation of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation and the construction of Providence Place mall. Licht said his firm was one of several that represented the mall’s developer and handled permitting, legislative and financing issues.

The firm also represented several public agencies, including the Airport Corporation and the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority. Licht said those clients have not yet decided who will represent them after Tillinghast Licht’s demise.

The firm traces it roots to the early 19th century and young lawyer Charles Foster Tillinghast, who was a scion of one of the oldest families in Rhode Island. His great-great grandfather, the Rev. Pardon Tillinghast, was the first Tillinghast in America and, in 1645, was one of the first proprietors of the town of Providence.

Charles Tillinghast was born in New York City in 1797, where his parents lived for several years, but was educated in Providence schools, graduating from Brown University in 1814 at the age of 17. He studied law for two years under Samuel W. Bridgham. In 1816, Tillinghast was admitted to the bar and opened his first office, in the village of Chepachet. The following year, he returned to Providence and partnered with Bridgham. Six years later, Tillinghast opened his own office.

In 1842, he partnered with Charles S. Bradley, who would later become the state’s chief justice. In 1843, Tillinghast represented Providence for a single term in the General Assembly. Tillinghast & Bradley was well known in Rhode Island until the firm dissolved in 1858. At that time, Tillinghast and his son James, who had joined the firm in 1851, continued as Tillinghast & Tillinghast. That name would continue after Charles died in 1864 and James continued to practice with his sons, William Richmond and Theodore Foster Tillinghast.

“No stronger legal firm graced the Rhode Island bar, and all members devoted themselves strictly to the business entrusted to them, the senior member never being led away by the lure of political life,” according to The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, published in 1920 by The American Historical Society.

In the early 20th century, with William Tillinghast still a member of the firm, Tillinghast & Tillinghast merged with another firm to form Tillinghast & Collins. It was the first of several mergers in the last century, all that saw the Tillinghast name remain preeminent. In the 1970s, Tillinghast, Collins & Tanner joined with Graham, Reid, Ewing & Stapleton. In the 1990s, Tillinghast Collins & Graham merged with Licht & Semonoff to form Tillinghast Licht & Semonoff. The name was later shortened to Tillinghast Licht to make it easier to say, according to Riedel. In 2000, it merged with the Boston firm of Perkins Smith & Cohen and called its Rhode Island office Tillinghast Licht Perkins Smith & Cohen, but the firms split several years ago, and Tillinghast Licht returned to its former name.

“It’s been a long history,” said Riedel, “and it’s a shame to have that disappear.”

pparker@projo.com