1883

Robert M. Fitzgerald opens his legal practice at 854½ Broadway in downtown Oakland. That same year, the Oakland Observatory, now known as the Chabot Space & Science Center, is built.

1891

Carl Abbott joins R.M. Fitzgerald to form Fitzgerald & Abbott. The firm becomes a top Bay Area organization. Oakland’s first electric streetcar leaves the foot of Broadway for Berkeley.

1892

The Sierra Club is founded by 182 charter members. 110 years later, FAB Labor & Employment Partner, Michael Ward, in Miles v. Sierra Club, successfully defends the Sierra Club.

1906

After relocating across the bay in 1900, the firm returns to Oakland after the San Francisco Earthquake.

1908

Charles Beardsley joins Fitzgerald & Abbott as an associate. Five years later, in 1913, Beardsley becomes a named partner.

1910

Fitzgerald arranges a welcome to Oakland for President William H. Taft, who later lays the cornerstone Oakland's City Hall.

Vaughn Filmore, Port of Oakland

1913

A handful of sailors meet at Peterson's Boat House at the foot of 12th Street in Oakland to form the Oakland Yacht Club—a long-standing client of FAB.

Craig Wong, Oakland Yacht Club

1915

Designed by Oakland native Julia Morgan, the YWCA building on Webster Street opens. FAB's current Managing Partner Barry Epstein later co-founds and serves on the board of the Julia Morgan School for Girls in Oakland.

1920

The firm handles merger of longstanding client C.L. Best Tractor with a competitor to form Caterpillar Tractor.

1936

California Governor Clement Young appoints FAB Partner, R.M. Fitzgerald to Finance Committee that handles funding of the Bay Bridge. Fitzgerald later attends the bridge’s opening ceremony.

1937

Amelia Earhart departs from the Oakland Airport on her fateful round-the-world flight.

1939

FAB Partner Charles Beardsley named President of the American Bar Association.

1948

FAB Partner Milton Dobrzensky, the first registered Democrat in Piedmont, casts a vote for Harry S. Truman, helping Truman upset Republican Thomas Dewey in the presidential election.

1952

FAB Partner James Anglim is appointed governor of the Alameda County Community Foundation, later to become the East Bay Community Foundation. Today, FAB Partner Timothy Smallsreed serves on the organization's board.

1958

FAB moves from 14th & Broadway to bigger offices – across the street to 1330 Broadway, only three blocks from where it was founded, and one block from where it resides today.

1963

Stanford University creates scholarship in honor of Charles Beardsley and endows a professorial chair in his name - the Charles Beardsley Professorship in Law.

1968

Major League Baseball comes to Oakland when Charles Finley moves his Kansas City Athletics to Oakland.

1972

BART carries its first passengers.

1983

Robert C. Maynard acquires the Oakland Tribune, and in so doing, becomes the first African-American to own a major metropolitan newspaper.

Oakland Tribune

1989

7.1 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake hits Bay Area. The earthquake-delayed World Series concludes with an Oakland A's victory over the San Francisco Giants.

1998

Named in honor of late Oakland City Councilmember Frank H. Ogawa, City Hall Plaza (across the street from FAB's office) re-opens after a $124 million rebuilding. Ogawa was the first Japanese-American to serve on a City Council in the U.S.

Harry Hamilton

2003

California's domestic partner law, AB 205, is signed into law. FAB Partner Virginia Palmer, an early supporter of the law, has been counseling members of the LGBT community since the law's inception.

2008

FAB celebrates its 125th year with a donation of $125,000 to the Alameda County Community Food Bank, in recognition of the firm’s years of service to the community and its long-standing tradition of charitable and civic involvement.