History of the firm.

In 1948, following graduation from the University of Iowa College of Law, William L. Meardon "hung out his shingle" at 22-1/2 South Dubuque Street in Iowa City, Iowa. Thus began the history of the firm now known as MEARDON, SUEPPEL & DOWNER P.L.C. Mr. Meardon went on to a distinguished career in the law, having served as Johnson County Attorney from 1951 to 1955 and later as a lecturer in trial practice at the University of Iowa College of Law. Mr. Meardon was a Fellow of the Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Iowa State Bar Foundation, and actively practiced until three days before his death on October 9, 1997.
Meardon, Sueppel & Downer P.L.C. gradually grew to its present size of seventeen (17) lawyers, who practice in a wide variety of fields, including trials and appeals in the Iowa and Federal Courts, banking, corporate, municipal, labor and employment, franchising and distribution, family, criminal, taxation, eminent domain, real estate, trusts and estates law, as well as tort, business and contract litigation and business and estate planning. In addition to its fourteen lawyers, Meardon, Sueppel & Downer P.L.C. employs a highly competent support staff of trained paraprofessionals.
Since 1978, the firm has been housed in its own building at 122 South Linn Street in Iowa City.
The firm has kept abreast of technological advancements that it utilizes in delivering legal services to clients accurately and efficiently.
In addition to its present lawyers, others who have contributed to the distinguished history of the firm include the late John C. O'Bryne, Counsel to the firm while a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law and who subsequently served as Dean of the Northeastern University and University of Georgia Law Schools, Ansel J. Chapman, an Iowa District Court Judge from 1968 to 1985, and the late Clair E. Hamilton, an Iowa District Court Judge from 1960 to 1968.
The lawyers in the firm have been active in a wide variety of professional and civic activities. Four members of the firm have served as chairs of committees on sections of the Iowa State Bar Association. Other professional organizations in which firm members have been actively involved include the International Municipal Attorneys Association, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers, American, Iowa State, and Johnson County Bar Associations, Iowa Law School Foundation, the American and Iowa State Bar Foundations, and various commissions and task forces of the Iowa Supreme Court.