Charles W. Symmes joined the firm in 1942 following his graduation from Butler University and the Columbia University School of Law. He was the co-author, with his father, of the third edition of Indiana Criminal Law, and served in the United States Army during World War II.

In 1959, he represented Connie Nicholas in her trial for the murder of Eli Lilly International President Forrest Teal. A short time later, he represented those charged in the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum explosion.

A member of the Columbia Club, he was a past-president of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and the Pleasant Run Children’s Home Board of Trustees. He served as a member on the Governor’s Board of Butler University, and he was a member of the American and Indiana Bar Associations. In 1999, at the age of 81, he was the oldest competitor and finisher of the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon.

He was the senior lawyer of the firm (then called Symmes, Voyles, Zahn, Paul & Hogan) at the time of his death in 2000.