Ralph Gordon and Roger Simmons were close friends for twenty-eight years, as well as business partners, prior to Ralph's death on January 28, 1999. They began working together at Howrey & Simon in 1971, where Ralph later won a major antitrust case against AT&T on behalf of Litton Industries, Inc., which recovered more than $340 million. In 1984, Ralph left Howrey & Simon and moved his practice to Frederick where he began a general litigation practice. Three years later, in June 1987, Roger joined Ralph. Their firm, known as Gordon & Simmons, provided high-quality legal representation at reasonable prices. The firm has always followed this philosophy and has primarily been involved in commercial litigation in a wide variety of cases over the fifteen plus-years of its existence.