In the late 1920s, Chester V. Lorch and Frank E. Lorch, Jr. founded the family-based law practice that today is Lorch Naville Ward, in New Albany, IN. In the decades since, additional members of the Lorch family, as well as members of the Herbert F. Naville family and other well-respected attorneys have joined the practice. Most recently, the firm merged with Ward King Agnew in July of 2013. The heritage that belongs to Lorch Naville Ward today continues to focus on civic involvement and professional excellence. Our knowledge translates into quality legal assistance for you. Equipping individuals, families and businesses for success and security now, and in generations to come, is what Lorch Naville Ward is all about.
SMALL TOWN FEEL, FULL SERVICE FIRM
Though we may be considered a small firm by some standards, our thirteen attorney law firm provides a full range of legal services for the Southern Indiana and Louisville Metro Area. Lorch Naville Ward has the resources and experience to handle even the most complex litigation, while also maintaining a close working relationship with our clients and making sure that our clients’ satisfaction, not our own, is the top priority. Our attorneys will work diligently to provide you with the best possible solution to your legal problem in an efficient and competent manner.
OUR FIRM’S HISTORY: A FAMILY TRADITION
The history of Lorch Naville Ward is deeply rooted in a family tradition of service to the legal community in the Southern Indiana and Louisville Metro Area. Chester V. Lorch, Jr., a founding member of Lorch and Lorch in New Albany in the late 1920s, was Floyd County Prosecutor in the late 1930s and served one term as mayor during that decade. He fought in World War I and served in the Air Corps in Africa in World War II. During that time he founded the Air Corps Intelligence School in Pennsylvania. Frank E. Lorch, Jr., his brother, and his partner in Lorch and Lorch, served as Floyd County Prosecutor in the 1940s. Their nephew, “Bud” Lorch, joined the practice in 1950. He was joined by his son, Basil H. “Buz” Lorch III, in 1974 and by his daughter, Linda B. Lorch, in 1979. In 1992, Buz Lorch left the firm to become a federal bankruptcy judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of Indiana. In 2011, Linda Lorch’s daughter, Claire Lorch Hagedorn, became the fourth generation of her family to practice law in the firm.
The first predecessor to Lorch Naville Ward began as Lorch, Moyer, Gesenhues & Bitzegaio in 1992. In addition to the Lorches, its partners were William C. Moyer, George W. Gesenhues, Jr., and Barry N. Bitzegaio. The firm became Lorch & Naville in 1987 when it merged with the father-son practice of Herbert F. Naville and Michael G. Naville, who had become partners in 1976. Another son, Timothy J. Naville, joined the practice in 1990. Timothy’s son Steve Naville then joined the practice in 2007. Most recently, Lorch & Naville merged with Ward, King, Agnew in 2013 to create the firm that today is known as Lorch Naville Ward.
Today our thirteen attorneys continue to build upon our heritage of civic involvement and professional excellence. We manage our law firm to last into future generations as an increasingly successful and beneficial enterprise. We invite you to learn more about the people, services and distinction behind our name. Our decades of experience translate into quality legal assistance for you.