For over 70 years, Wilson-Epes has been a fixture of the highly specialized U.S. Supreme Court and Federal Appellate Court legal community. We are the “go-to” company in a small world of Supreme Court and Federal Appellate Court brief printers. Our client list is a “Who’s Who” of top litigation law firms in Washington, DC and the rest of the United States. Many famous lawyers, including John Roberts, Kenneth Starr, Drew Days and others have sat at our company’s small conference table, proofreading briefs before final submission. Wilson-Epes has been an integral part of our nation’s legal history, printing briefs for many landmark cases such as Rowe v. Wade, Bush v. Gore, Turner v. FCC and Watergate.
Wilson-Epes Printing Company was founded in 1941 by Lester C. Wilson and Branch Epes. The two partners built their business with hot-metal typecasting, press and bindery equipment. (“Hot-metal” printing is an equipment and labor-intensive process whereby skilled linotype operators cast words into lines made of molten lead. After a page is printed, the lead is re-melted and used again for the next page.) At the time, our company was focused on providing high quality printing services to embassies, associations, and businesses. In the early 1960′s, Lester Wilson bought out Branch Epes and, together with his wife, expanded into publishing opinions of Federal and District of Columbia courts, also printing stationery and legal briefs for law firms. After Lester Wilson died in 1967, the Company’s foreman, Raymond Wilhide, purchased the company from her shortly thereafter. Over the course of his 25 years of ownership, Mr. Wilhide transformed the Company into the District’s leading legal printer.
Mr. Robert Dorsey, the Company’s current owner, acquired Wilson-Epes in 1993. Focusing on quality and service, Mr. Dorsey sought to expand this segment further and to do so by becoming the best printer of Supreme Court briefs in the country. Between 1993 and 1999, the Company’s reputation and business grew. The Company was sought out for its expertise and reputation by law firms all over the country to print their Supreme Court briefs. By the year 2000, it was certainly arguable that Wilson-Epes had achieved Mr. Dorsey’s goal – that it indeed had become the best printer of Supreme Court briefs in the country. Additionally, Wilson-Epes was also the most expensive printer of Supreme Court briefs in the country. Wilson-Epes was the last of the hot-metal printers. All of our competition had long ago switched to other printing processes. As the last “buggy whip maker” of its kind, we had the highest quality but, because of the equipment and labor-intensive nature of the hot-metal process, we also had the highest costs.
Realizing that it was no longer economically feasible to sustain the overhead involved in hot-metal printing, in April, 2000, Mr. Dorsey recapitalized Wilson-Epes, acquired the most current and highest quality digital printing technology, and converted from hot-metal to an all-digital printing process. Without sacrificing quality or service, costs were substantially reduced and are now competitive with other printers. We still offer greater services such as Hand Filing at the Courts and Hand Service.
In 2005, Mr. Dorsey was joined by his son Christopher. Coming from a “big box” printing company, Christopher brought with him the latest digital and production skills. With even more family energy, the two continued to dominate in Quality and Service.
Wilson-Epes has never advertised. New business comes strictly by word-of-mouth, via referrals from our country’s mostprominent legal authorities.
At Wilson Epes, we approach our clients as partners and strive to attain the revelation and pride of a job-well-done upon the completion of every brief we publish. We know that when our clients are successful, so are we.
And, of course, it never hurts to have friends in high places.