History

Bean, Kinney & Korman began as a modest group of young attorneys looking to build their professional practices near the local courthouse. Among them was David B. Kinney, who in 1959 joined with three other lawyers to start an enterprise that has grown and prospered for over 60 years to become one of the area’s leading law firms.

Along the way, a law student named James W. Korman was hired as a clerk and later as an associate attorney. A 1970s merger brought L. Lee Bean to the firm, one of Northern Virginia’s premier attorneys and later president of the Virginia Bar Association. During these first two decades, the firm built a typical general law practice, representing local individuals and businesses in real estate transactions, litigation, wills, divorces, and corporate matters.

While it took almost 40 years to reach 20 lawyers, the firm has more than doubled in size in the years since. We continue to execute our strategy of meeting the expanding and dynamic legal needs of a wider client base by adding practice area capabilities in employment matters, taxation, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property and licensing, internet defamation, and government contracting. We have an ongoing commitment to address the ever-changing business and personal environment of our clients.

The firm’s lawyers have been leaders in the community and the profession, including:

 

1968

Thomas R. Monroe joins the firm as the first African American partner in a non-minority legal practice in Virginia. Appointed to the bench as Arlington County’s first African American judge in 1972 and served on all three Arlington Courts.

1970

David B. Kinney serves as President of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association.

1980

L. Lee Bean serves as President of the Virginia Bar Association.

1981

James W. Korman serves as President of the Arlington Bar Association.

1985

Benjamin N.A. Kendrick appointed as an Arlington Circuit Court judge.

1985

Jonathan C. Kinney serves as Chair of the Arlington Housing Commission.

1997

Carol Schrier-Polak serves as Chair of the Fairfax Bar Association.

1999

Jennifer A. Brust serves as President of the Arlington Bar Association.

2000

James W. Korman serves as President of the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

2004

Timothy R. Hughes serves as Chair of the Virginia State Bar’s Construction Law & Public Contracts Section.

2005

Carol Schrier-Polak serves as President of the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

2007

James R. Schroll serves as Chair of the Virginia State Bar’s Bankruptcy Section.

2010

Philip M. Keating serves as Chair of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce.

2010

Jonathan C. Kinney serves as President of the Clarendon Alliance.

2014

Timothy R. Hughes serves as Chair of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce.

2015

Timothy R. Hughes serves as Chair of the Leadership Center for Excellence.

2017

Jonathan C. Kinney serves as President of the Arlington County Retirement Board.

2019

Raighne C. Delaney serves as Chairman of the Board of Governors, Army Navy Country Club.

2020

Bean, Kinney & Korman named as a 2020 Best Places to Work in Virginia by Virginia Business Magazine and Best Companies Group.

2021

Bean, Kinney & Korman named as a 2021 Best Places to Work in Arlington by Arlington Magazine and Best Companies Group.

2022

Bean, Kinney & Korman named as a 2022 Best Places to work in Virginia.

Best Places to Work Arlington 2022

2022

Bean, Kinney & Korman named as a 2022 Best Places to Work in Arlington by Arlington Magazine and Best Companies Group.

2024

2024 Leadership Transition to Management Committee.

 

Continually expanding our legal services, we serve clients within the metropolitan Washington, D.C. region and other jurisdictions throughout the country as well as some international clients, in matters ranging from simple wills to multi-million-dollar financings. But in everything we do, we never lose sight of the steadfast values upon which the firm was founded.