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1925 - Calvin Coolidge was the country's chief executive. In Wyoming, the first woman governor in the United States took office. The Charleston craze was going strong. Bryn Mawr College lifted its ban on student smoking. F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby. Clarence Birdseye came up with a deep freezing process for precooked foods. The United States was experiencing one of the dizziest land booms in history.
And in Richmond, Virginia-a remote area of the country as far as major financial centers are concerned-Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation was born. With pride, ambition, a dream, and little more, Lawyers Title threw back its shoulders and entered the title insurance field.
A struggling young Richmond lawyer, H. Laurie Smith, first dreamed the dream. Before the Company was chartered, he spent four years studying operation techniques of every major title insurance company in the country.
Smith's idea was to deal exclusively in title insurance, not to attempt to invest in real estate mortgages or mortgage guaranties. He was to be the first title company in the South to insure more than the record title to real estate. He finally convinced approximately 20 fellow Richmond lawyers that the idea would work.
Each contributed the abstracts they had accumulated throughout their years in practice in exchange for a proportionate amount of stock in the company. Lawyers Title's charter was recorded in the Chancery Court of Richmond on April 21, 1925.
When Lawyers Title opened for business, it had initial assets of $436,000. Its first home was five rooms on the third floor of the old Law Building in downtown Richmond. The staff was 12 persons. When the Company moved to the Old Planters Bank Building in 1927, the number of employees had risen to 25. Lawyers Title was a steadily growing concern throughout the state and was beginning to look elsewhere.
In March 1928, Lawyers Title was licensed to do business in North Carolina. Shortly afterwards, its first policy issued outside the state of Virginia was issued to the Durham Bond & Mortgage Company. In that year the Company also qualified in West Virginia, Georgia, and Florida. In 1930, Lawyers Title had acquired a rather healthy financial standing and moved to 1111 East Main Street, a building which formerly housed the National State and City Bank of Richmond.
In the next three years, the Company experienced rough weather because of the country's financial condition. However, due to careful planning and curtailing of expenses, it was able to meet its preferred dividend requirements and ended the period with increased surplus and reserves.
There are several reasons why Lawyers Title was able to survive the blows of the Depression while so many other title companies could not. First, Lawyers Title dealt only in title insurance and did not attempt mortgage guaranties. Also, Lawyers had to its credit sound underwriting principles and the willingness and ability to pay claims arising under title policies. Federal home loan programs were a boom to the industry during the Depression. The Federal Home Owners Loan Corporation was created in 1933 to refinance homes to prevent foreclosure. Though HOLC did not require title insurance, Lawyers Title wrote many policies in connection with its financing. The Federal Housing Administration stimulated home building by guaranteeing lenders their investments in case of borrower default.
By the end of 1934, Lawyers Title's business volume had expanded so much, and its importance to the real estate and mortgage business was so great, that it had become the largest title insurance company in the south. It had over 3,000 approved attorneys and agents in states in the South and Midwest, and its policies were being requested by large insurance companies, real estate investors and government agencies in many areas.
Lawyers Title's first branch offices outside Virginia were established in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and New Orleans, Louisiana in 1935. In 1936, Lawyers Title had entered Indiana and in 1937, Texas. In 1941, Lawyers Title became the FIRST out-of-state title company to enter Pennsylvania. In 1943, LTIC moved into Michigan.
The outbreak of World War II found the country with only a few leading title companies. One was Lawyers Title. During the war, many restrictions were placed on home building, but Lawyers Title continued to grow, partly because of the realty transactions of the government: Army supply depots, air bases, proving grounds, military reservations, shipyards, and defense housing and relocation projects.
In 1942, Lawyers Title became the FIRST title company east of the Rockies to employ microfilm for daily takeoff and plant maintenance. In 1943, the Company insured the FIRST VA loan in America on a house on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.
The post-war boom brought Lawyers Title its greatest growth. With the help of GI home loans, business increased. The Company instituted an aggressive program of territorial expansion and facility development that is still an important part of its philosophy today. Strategic locations were selected for a number of branch offices from which sizable areas could be developed and supervised. Additional branches were opened where and when the business potential so justified.
In some areas the Company was able to expand by appointing issuing agents. Lawyers Title was licensed as the FIRST title insurance company in Puerto Rico in 1950. In 1956, Lawyers Title was qualified to do business in Canada. It was the FIRST title insurance company to operate outside the United States.
In 1958, Lawyers Title moved into the FIRST Home Office structure ever built by a title insurance company for its own use. Modeled after the Governor Palace in Williamsburg, this West Richmond building on Cutshaw Avenue was headquarters for twenty-two years. In April 1967, the chief executive officers of Lawyers Title and The Life Insurance Company of Virginia announced a plan approved by the boards of directors of the two companies providing for a proposed affiliation of the two organizations through the establishment of a holding company. The plan was made effective January 25, 1968, after more than 80 percent of the stockholders of each company accepted an offer to exchange their shares for shares in the holding company, The Richmond Corporation.
In 1969, Lawyers Title initiated formal research aimed at finding a better way to handle and retrieve title records. After much study and planning, the Lawyers Title Search System was developed which was designed to utilize data processing techniques to search title records from title plants. The Lawyers Title Search System was the only computerized search system that produced an entire chain of title land, name, and reference documents with a single inquiry on the land.
In 1970, Lawyers Title qualified to do business in the U.S. Virgin Islands; in 1971, Minnesota; in 1972, Saskatchewan; in 1974, the Bahama Islands and the State of Washington; and in 1976, Alaska.
On June 29, 1977, Lawyers Title's corporate identity further expanded with the merger of The Richmond Corporation with The Continental Group, Inc., an international company specializing in diversified packaging, natural resources and financial services. The merger created The Richmond Company as a fourth division of The Continental Group, with Lawyers Title operating as a subsidiary of Continental.
On January 1, 1979, a new financial holding company was formed and The Richmond Company became Continental Financial Services Company. That same year Lawyers Title announced plans to construct a six-story, 132,000 square-foot headquarters facility on a 6.5 acre site in Richmond's Brookfield office complex, with occupancy scheduled for the fall of 1980.
In 1981, Continental Financial services Company acquired Investors Mortgage Insurance Company (IMI) of Boston, as a complement to Lawyers Title in serving the needs of the real estate industry in the '80s. The subsequent formation of a joint venture between the two companies, known as Lawyers Title Insurance Service Agency Incorporated (LTISA), was a concept developed for the sole purpose of selling and marketing title and mortgage insurance. Operating as a subsidiary of Lawyers Title, LTISA was a natural fit for the two companies, and was created with the potential of offering anyone involved in the real estate industry a full range of insurance services and the means of marketing multiple lines of insurance. Currently, LTISA is an inactive corporation, since LTIC does not market mortgage insurance at this time.
In 1982, the California operations of Lawyers Title and California-World Financial Corporation, and its subsidiaries, underwent restructuring to reduce operational costs and improve marketing capabilities. California World Financial Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary, California-World Title Company, merged into an entity known as Continental Land Title Company, which ultimately became a subsidiary of Lawyers Title, with operations in California and Oregon.
In 1984, a subsidiary known as Datatrace Information Services Company, Inc., was formed to market Lawyers Title's computerized search system to other title insurance companies, agents and attorneys. The company is currently headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, with offices in Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Other, more significant, changes came to Lawyers Title during the year of the "Big Brother." In June 1984, Continental Group's board of directors voted to accept a merger agreement between Continental Group and KMI Continental, Inc., and organization owned by Peter Kiewit Sons, Inc., and Murdock Investments.
Lawyers Title's affiliation as part of the merger was only temporary, however. In August, Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, Inc., the world's largest independent tobacco dealer, announced plans to acquire Lawyers Title and Continental Land Title Company, then headquartered in Universal City, California, for a purchase price of $115 million. The acquisition was consummated in November 1984.
Under Universal Corporation's ownership Lawyers Title continued to grow, despite challenging times within the entire real estate-related economy, including the title industry.
In 1985, the Company formed Lawyers Title Data Corporation, a subsidiary, to market and support Genesis, a title production and closing software package. Genesis provides automation tools for offices issuing commitments and policies, as well as for those providing real estate closing services. The Genesis package was written by Title Data, Inc., in Denver, Colorado. In 1989, Lawyers Title purchased the Genesis business unit from TRW and the new subsidiary began operation as "Genesis Data Systems." (GDS). In 1991, GDS assumed the marketing, training and support functions previously performed by LTDC, a move which placed all Genesis-related functions with GDS in Denver.
The decade of the 80s also witnessed the purchase of other operations by Lawyers Title. Former agencies, such as Real Title Company, Inc., in northern Virginia, and TransOhio Title in Columbus, Ohio, became subsidiaries of the Company. The Companies also added branches in Texas, Colorado and Michigan.
In addition, Lawyers Title's National Division, pioneered in the early '50s with the opening of offices in New York, Detroit and Chicago, continued its expansion. By the end of the decade the National Division network included 15 offices in major metropolitan areas, coast to coast.
In 1991, Universal Corporation announced its decision to spin off Lawyers Title in a divestiture which provided Lawyers Title with its own publicly traded stock for use in acquisitions and for incentive compensation. All of the outstanding shares of a newly organized holding company for Lawyers Title were distributed, tax-free, to Universal shareholders on the basis of one share of Lawyers Title stock for every four shares of Universal common stock. The Company's stock is listed on the NASDAQ National Market System (as LTCO), and began over-the-counter trading in the fall of 1991.
Since given the opportunity to be a publicly traded company three and one-half years ago, Lawyers Title hasDeclared a three-for-two stock split of its common stock (April 1993)
1. Acquired subsidiary companies in Oregon, Texas, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
2. Made agency acquisitions in Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.
3. Formed Lawyers Title Exchange Company which operates out of Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation's 10 regional offices and a number of National Division offices. It functions as an intermediary for individual and corporate investors interested in pursuing tax-free property exchanges under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. Continental Lawyers Title Company has its own exchange company, aptly named CLTC Exchange Company.
4. Formed a new subsidiary, Lawyers Title Environmental Service Agency, Inc. (LTESA) in April 1994, to acquire a minority interest in Environmental Warranty, Inc., (EWI) of West Hartford, Connecticut. This provides environmental coverage, along with a title policy, to commercial real estate entities.
5. Entered into a licensing arrangement in August 1994 with InfoTrust, Inc., a Pennsylvania based developer and operator of a nationwide real estate information services network. It is the FIRST of its kind to offer mortgage loan origination with wholesale rates, title insurance, appraisals, credit reports, vendor services, econometrics and a unique interactive multiple listing system that offers pictures of homes and area maps.
As the Company embarks on its 70th year of service to the real estate industry, its history reflects steady growth and continued success even during periods of economic downturn. Since its beginnings in 1925 as a tiny company with 12 employees and assets of less than a half million dollars, Lawyers Title is approaching the 21st century with a nationwide network of 14 National Division offices, 3,200 branch, agency and subsidiary offices, and more than 38,000 Approved Attorneys operations in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Puerto Rico, the Bahama Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
On August 21, 1997, Lawyers Title Corporation announced that it entered into an agreement with Reliance Group Holdings, Inc., to purchase the title operations of Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company and Transnation Title Insurance Company, headquartered in Philadelphia. The closing occurred on February 27, 1998. Effective March 2, 1998, LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. was created as the holding company for the largest family of underwriters in the country - Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company, Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation and Transnation Title Insurance Company. Our new parent company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol LFG. Lawyers Title Corporation changed its name to LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc., and is the parent company of Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation, Commonwealth Land Title Company and Transnation Title Insurance Company.
LandAmerica operates as one organization with one unified management team, while doing business under the company names of Commonwealth, Lawyers and Transnation. Our newly formed parent company is based in Richmond, Virginia and, with the following organizational structure:
* Charles H. Foster Jr. - Chairman of the Board
* Theodore L. Chandler Jr. - President and Chief Executive Officer
* G. William Evans - Chief Financial Officer
* Kenneth Astheimer - Executive Vice President - Agency Services
* Paul Bedell - Executive Vice President - Sales
We are very enthusiastic about our future as LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. This union gives all of us an opportunity to be part of not only one of the biggest, but also the best, financial services organizations in the real estate industry - an organization poised for competitive leadership and growth.
LandAmerica has five regions throughout the United States. California is part of the West Region which is made up of the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada.
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