Andrew Glassell - Los Angeles Legal Practice

Los Angeles Legal Practice

After the war Glassell came to Los Angeles in 1865. He formed a partnership with Alfred Chapman and Colonel George H. Smith, the firm becoming known as Glassell, Chapman & Smith. Their law practice was confined chiefly to real estate transactions and they made their fortunes by being retailed in the large partition suits. When Glassell first came to California, he had worked with the federal land commission that reviewed all the old Mexican Rancho grants and so he was very well versed in title land law. Chapman was the businessman of the firm. They would take their compensation in land, and nearly every final decree in partition would find that Glassell and Chapman had quite an area of land in severalty. Glassell was involved in the legal suit known as The Great Partition of 1871 brought against the Rancho San Rafael property in the eastern San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains. The section he and Chapman were awarded later became the community of Glassell Park, Los Angeles. In 1875 Andrew Glassell purchased Rancho Tujunga, the adjacent northern rancho in the Valley, from Agustin Olvera.

Andrew Glassell was one of the incorporators of and attorney for the Farmers and Merchants' Bank. He was the first president of the Los Angeles County bar association in 1878 - 1880. He incorporated the 'Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad,' and was prominent in its management until it was absorbed by the Southern Pacific Railroad. When this transfer was made he became chief counsel of the S.P. railroad company in Southern California, and remained in that capacity until he retired in 1883.

In 1878, Glassell served as the first president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.