Though the firm traces its roots back to a law practice founded in 1888 (by McGeorge Bundy and Judge Robert Montgomery, who would later return to the bench as a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court), Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett didn't really take off until Laurent Varnum joined up in 1927. Laurent Varnum joined a practice that had just 10 attorneys in its lone Grand Rapids office, but the firm has since grown more than tenfold. Varnum Riddering now has over 150 lawyers in five locations around Michigan, making it one of the largest law firms in the state.