1900
“A sovereign convention will before another year has passed be convened to frame a new Constitution for the government of Virginia. Its assemblage will be an event fraught with consequences of as grave import as any that has occurred since the settlement of Jamestown.”
— William A. Anderson, Lexington

1901
“It is our duty above all things to uphold, as far as in us lies, the standard of honor in the profession. To this end our charter empowers us to take cognizance of all complaints of professional misconduct, whether the party complained of be a member of the Association or not, and the bylaws prescribe a method of procedure... The man who by his misconduct shows himself an unworthy member of the profession and brings discredit upon it, ought not to be allowed to remain in it.”
— Lunsford L. Lewis, Richmond

1902
“Every cultivated man is, or should be, more than his business; and such is usually found to be the case. Not only are lawyers, by the requirements of their profession, interested in the various departments of business in the communities in which they live, but they are also citizens of the State, and usually public-spirited and patriotic citizens. What class in our beloved old State has striven more faithfully to meet all the requirements of citizenship, and to maintain and advance the public weal than the lawyers?”
— Thomas C. Elder, Staunton

1903
“All of us know that the worst abuses of society often exist for a great length of time before they reach their destiny, becoming a theme for public discussion by the ablest and most alert press in the world. Then in turn they become the subject of legislation, ultimately finding their way before judges who, if abreast of their times, have found the best consensus of the opinion of mankind.”
— Samuel C. Graham, Tazewell

1904
“Whether we wish it or not, the ‘Old Virginia, God bless her,’ of other days has passed, except as a tender and proud memory and tradition... With this change in conditions must come, and to some extent has come, such change in the mental processes and methods of the lawyer as will enable him to meet the new requirements, else he must fail in his work and lose his hitherto preeminent position... In business matters, he occupies a place largely similar to that occupied by the old-time family physician in matters of health.”
— Alexander Hamilton, Petersburg

1905
“My work has changed to such an extent... that I have found it impossible to present an address to this meeting of the Association worthy of its dignity and in keeping with my own conception of what is due to it from me... I sought out a gentleman in whose judgment I had the most unquestioned confidence and I told him of my worry and anxiety about it. He at once remarked, ‘You are giving yourself unnecessary trouble. One-half of the Association will be glad you didn’t speak, and the other half won’t care.’”
— Alfred P. Thom, Norfolk

1906
“Thrice happy is the State that can investigate, that does investigate, and that can find nothing worse than what some may consider mistaken judgment... If investigations are made for the purpose of ascertaining the real facts, and not of establishing a rumor, a charge or a theory, or of gaining a political advantage, if the truth is reported, the guilty and inefficient are exposed and dealt with, the honest and efficient are vindicated, respect for authority will be maintained and justice will rule and reign among our people. To aid in the accomplishment of these ends is a work worthy of this Association and its members.”
— Archer A. Phlegar, Bristol

1907
“I might say... that it was a reflection upon certainly the wisdom and good taste of the authorities of the City of Richmond that they should refuse to allow the Bar Association to purchase and perpetuate that building [the John Marshall House] as a memorial to the great Chief Justice... I thought they were in error in doing that, but that was a matter we differed on.”
— Allen Caperton Braxton, Staunton

1908
“The great corporation is the most potent force in our economic life of today. These legal entities which the State has endowed with life have become the master of the political Frankenstein who created them. It is inevitable that the nation should seek to control where the State has failed. The movements of our vast commerce yearly become wider and necessarily advance Federal jurisdiction over it with lengthening strides. Steam and electricity are welding the States together commercially and industrially.”
— Wyndham B. Meredith, Richmond

1909
“I proclaim that the grandest and loftiest secular profession in which men can engage and to which they can devote their lives is The Law... It is the bedwork of society. It is not to its armies and navies, but to its law and the courts that administer them, that a nation must look for the protection and preservation of its liberties, its rights of person and property, the safety of its citizens and its domestic tranquility.”
— Micajah Woods, Charlottesville

1910-19:
Goodbye to All That

War and revolution: many European monarchs who led their countries into the “Great War” in 1914 would soon be deposed or dead. America didn’t get involved until 1917, but we patriotically rolled bandages, ate “liberty cabbage” (a.k.a. sauerkraut), and sang “Over There.” We saw the limitations (and terrors) of new technologies when the Titanic sank in 1912, gas warfare became a feared weapon a few years later, and Spanish influenza wrought worldwide havoc in 1918. The Armistice ended the war, but the world was forever changed.

1910
“War has become far less frequent, and it has become undesirable even in the view of those whose occupation it has been. I suppose, for example, that armed conflict has never been more deeply deplored than by the great soldiers of this Commonwealth who sleep at Mount Vernon and Lexington... Furthermore, as a state provides tribunals to which disputes may or may not be submitted for settlement, in order that civil strife and strife between individuals may be averted, so now the nations in their conferences are legislating similar tribunals into existence.”
— R. Walton Moore, Fredericksburg

1911
“I remember seeing Chief Justice Taney presiding on the Circuit in Richmond, just before the breaking out of the late war, and I can vividly recall how I was impressed, as a boy, with the dignity and courtesy of his bearing as a judge, as well as the decorum and order which prevailed in his courtroom. The old Chief looked the personification of justice, as his courtroom had the appearance of being its temple. He commanded, too, the love and veneration of the bar, and of all with whom he came in contact.”
— George L. Christian, Richmond

1912
“[The Association] has done little in the way of promoting ‘reform in the law and judicial procedure.’ The reason for this, in my opinion, is that we have attempted to cover too much ground... In the language of the philosophers, we have been guilty of too much extension, and too little intention. Extension is never of much interest except to gossips, old men and women, and that order of mind which loves to read encyclopedias and dictionaries. Intention is always interesting to the scientific mind... whether it be how deep the Titanic sank in the depths of the ocean, or the reason for the double curve of the golf ball, or why a fly can stick on the wall...”
— Joshua F. Bullitt, Big Stone Gap

1913
“We lawyers are a gregarious generation... Howsoever much indisposed we are to acknowledge it, the real spirit of our annual gatherings is play rather than work. Not that this is the spirit of the Association itself. By its committees it does much hard work in advance of the meetings... But if the Association did no more than to call us together once a twelvemonth, with opportunity to look each other in the eyes... it brings us large returns for our three days of capering around the council rock.”
— William Minor Lile, Charlottesville

1914
“For many years there has been a systematic effort of great souls yearning over ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ to cultivate a sentiment on the part of all nations in opposition to war and in favor of peace. This movement has received the earnest and glad support of the ablest lawyers of this, as well as of other countries... It is already predicted by military experts of the highest authority that the present convulsion, even if not speedily composed, will be the last conflict of arms between civilized nations.”
— Samuel Griffin, Bedford

1915
“If the individual citizen is to be protected in his property and other rights... efforts to overthrow and destroy existing conditions must be firmly and steadily opposed; the obligation to do this and the responsibility for results rests largely with the members of the Virginia bar. It is our duty to resent, resist and refute by intelligent and determined but conservative efforts and convincing arguments these assaults upon the Constitution and the laws, no matter by whom made, or for what real purposes intended.”
— Legh R. Watts, Portsmouth

1916
“When the present world war, with all of its horrors, and blood, and sacrifice, is ended... the whole world will enter upon a commercial war to obtain as large a share as possible of international trade and commerce... Is the United States legally prepared to enter this contest and to win and hold that position in the world’s commerce to which from its natural resources, the energy and resourcefulness of its people, and its wealth, it is entitled?”
— Eppa Hunton Jr., Richmond

1917
John B. Jenkins of Norfolk, Association president for 1916-17, died in office.
“The [Russian] revolution was started by men who were intent upon establishing the liberty of the people and maintaining the honor of their country. They sought to observe their international obligations, to lay the foundation of a communistic state upon the principles of justice, and to realize their ideals of growth and brotherhood through the process of growth and development... But the younger and radical element were not content to wait... They had a definite and appealing program, which was purely destructive.”
— Henry W. Anderson of Richmond, VBA member and chair of the American Red Cross Commission in Romania

1918
“If this great war is a necessary step in the progress of civilization in order to put into effect a system of international jurisprudence that will hereafter render wars impossible, then we may comfort ourselves with the thought that... it will serve a good purpose. May we hope that the conflict itself will prove a moral purging that will result in a recurrence to fundamental principles and in consequence will develop such a spirit as will guarantee the perpetuity of our free institutions in America.”
— Harvey T. Hall, Roanoke

1919
“The time is at hand when the lawyers of this country must make their convictions and influence a potential force in preserving those things for which Anglo-Saxons have struggled during a thousand years. Cooperative work on the most expanded scale is a necessity in carrying forward the great undertakings upon which this country is already embarked... In these reconstruction times, it becomes the high privilege, as well as the bounden duty, of this profession of ours to see to it that those things are not lost which were saved to us by the lives of our soldiers who now lie buried in Flanders field.”
— Lucian H. Cocke, Roanoke

1920-29:
Roaring Toward
the Crash

Anyone could be adventurous in the Twenties, whether they were good (Lindbergh) or bad (Capone). In addition to casting their first votes, American women bobbed their hair and hemlines. Le jazz hot was the background music for speakeasies and bathtub gin parties. Movies and radio entertained us; more serious writers produced modern classics that we devoured avidly. As the business boom got bigger, life moved faster, until it all came crashing to a halt in October 1929. Welcome to the Depression, jazz babies.

1920
“The issue thus sharply raised is whether, on the one hand, the Monroe Doctrine is to lose its identity as an American policy and be swallowed up in a worldwide doctrine establishing the inviolable right of self-determination for all nations, great and small, as President Wilson suggests, or, on the other hand, whether it is to be maintained in its integrity as the cardinal feature of our international policy.”
— Randolph Harrison, Lynchburg

1921
“While the House of Burgesses, the popular branch of the government, was composed of the representatives of the people, elected upon a suffrage basis which varied at times, the large landowners and gentry exercised a potent influence in their election, and were probably jealous of a class whose tendency was to become powerful and to interfere with their prerogatives; while many of the proscribed class of attorneys, though in no recorded instance morally derelict, were doubtless untrained and often incompetent.”
— Armistead C. Gordon, Staunton

1922
“The one simple home in the little town of Fredericksburg of Mary, the mother of George Washington, has done more for good government, for civilization, for morals, for manhood and womanhood that all the divorce laws, all the woman-suffrage laws, all the prohibition laws... and all other irrational so-called remedies for existing evils have done or ever will do for the betterment of mankind. Real mothers alone can raise noble men who mould and make a State; they can not be raised by wet-nurse laws, in the wake of which have always followed a degenerate and effete people and a nation drifting to decay.”
— A.W. Wallace, Fredericksburg

1923
“Most of us remember when the activities of the Federal Government were confined to matters of a Federal nature and the private citizen in his daily life was scarcely conscious of the existence of the Federal Government. Today the American citizen finds ‘the path he was to wander in’ beset with Federal pitfalls. He finds himself exposed to the danger of being made a criminal by governmental fiat, for the conscious or unconscious violation of any one of a number of penal regulations with which he finds himself enmeshed — a criminal for doing what he and his fathers had considered a part of the birthright of an American citizen. He finds that the Federal Government has invaded the sanctity of his home and has undertaken to regulate even the domestic relations of life.”
— Edward P. Buford, Lawrenceville

1924
“My prescription for at least certain of the ills with which democracy, national and international, seems to be plagued is an old-fashioned one—unselfishness... There can be no peace until each acquires a measure of self-control, abates his demand in some degree and recognizes the other fellow and the possible justice of his counter-demand. I admit that the suggested remedy is an old one—centuries old, perhaps 19 centuries, but one too seldom resorted to, nevertheless.”
— George Bryan, Richmond

1925
“There are more good lawyers today than ever before; and there is a grievous swarm of poor ones... In these days when the world is changing, when commercialism is so rife that the noble art of advocacy... finds itself translated for the multitude into the unlovely word ‘selling,’ when membership in the Bar is without connotation of social or cultural standing, it behooves those to whom it falls to hand on the torch to see that it burns with a flame no less clear and pure than that therewith it was delivered to us.”
— Robert B. Tunstall, Richmond

1926
“It has long been my opinion... that the most effective method of promoting interest in the Association is to make it a factor of practical value in the professional life of the lawyers of the State... One of the imperative duties of every lawyer requires him biannually to familiarize himself with the changes in the statute law of the State, and I know of no more tedious or onerous duty than the determination of just what those changes are. I have attempted this year, at least partially, to perform that duty for you... I trust that I may be forgiven in the sympathy which you must feel for my efforts to boil down to reasonable compass 1,000 printed pages of legislation without omission of important provisions.”
— John Randolph Tucker, Richmond

1927
“Indeed, when we consider that there are about 2,500 lawyers in the State of Virginia, of whom less than 2,000 perhaps are active practitioners, many having other affairs and other income and not dependent for their livelihood upon the practice of their profession, and when we consider that we have over 200 at this meeting, and I think nearly 200 at the Hot Springs last year, we realize that the percentage of lawyers attending our meetings is probably as large as the percentage of the electorate of the United States which takes the trouble to vote.”
— R. Gray Williams, Winchester

1928
‘This Association cannot, however, rest upon what it has accomplished, but must consider mainly what useful public service it may render in the future, for, as has been well said, public service must always be “the controlling and vivifying spirit of the Association and the source of its importance, prestige and influence in the public eye.” The opportunities for service have been, and are, many and varied, but having in mind its past services in the matter of legal education and admission to the bar, it is well at this time to consider what further useful public service this Association may render in bringing about higher standards in legal education and increased educational requirements for admission to the bar.”
— James H. Corbitt, Suffolk

1929
“The recent utterances of the President of the United States on the subject of respect for law and his action in creating a commission of distinguished personnel to study and report the causes of crime and the means whereby both the observance and enforcement of the law may be more fully accomplished, has not only focused the attention of the nation upon these subjects and advanced them to an outstanding place among the issues of the day, but has enlisted for them the serious thought of responsible citizenship.”
— Whitwell W. Coxe, Roanoke

1930-39:
Happy Days, Gathering Storms

FDR’s New Deal, sparked by “fireside chats,” helped Americans climb out of the Depression, and a moppet named Shirley Temple boosted their spirits even more. You pinched your pennies to afford movie tickets; even if you were scraping by, you could get a dose of glamour from Fred and Ginger. Happy days were here again, but thunderheads were forming. The biggest movie of the decade was the Civil War epic Gone With the Wind. All too soon, Rhett and Scarlett’s saga would be replaced by newsreels of war in Europe and Asia.

1930
“We are living in an age of constant change, of growth, of evolution, of material development, characterized by increasing trade and commerce, by industrial expansion, aided by inventions and by discoveries in the physical sciences which have revolutionized life, and by improvements in the means of transportation and of communication... we may well, and seriously, ask ourselves whether the law is keeping pace with this rapid material development, with these changing conceptions, whether it is serving society as it should in the complex civilization in which we live.”
— R. Gordon Bohannan, Petersburg

1931
“We face a new era in the affairs of men. Improved methods of transportation, inter-communication and scientific discoveries have made a world that cannot be governed, controlled and operated under old methods... Since new methods of communication and transportation bring all nations into close relation with each other, the world must begin to work out a plan of world government, with world laws, to the end that all questions of difference and conflict may be settled by law and justice and not by force.”
— Robert L. Pennington, Bristol

1932
“The old order has changed. Conflicting forces contend with one another, there is no compromise. Reconstruction is again the order of the day and with it weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. We have had our war, 14 years since; we have had our wild and boundless prosperity; we have had our panic and depression; the days, months and maybe years of reconstruction are again on us. What will we do with them? How will the bench and bar meet this acid test?”
— Virginius Randolph Shackelford, Orange

1933
“We as a civilized people should have enough ability and discrimination to see that the difference between right and wrong, and the basis of right relations between man and man, are taught in our public schools without violating either the letter or the spirit of those statutes designed to secure the free exercise of religion.”
— James W. Gordon, Richmond

1934
“It may be confidently said... that the trial of law cases before a court consisting of three or five judges, in which the opinion of the majority would become the judgment of the court, would be not only more scientific and efficient than trial by unprepared and inexperienced jurors, but that the trial would be less formal and more dispatchful.”
—S.V. Kemp, Lynchburg

1935
“I would not have it understood from what has been said that I endorse all of the legislation enacted in the past few years in an effort to relieve a great economic emergency. Much of it has proven unsound and some of it unconstitutional, but on the other hand I admire the courage which both Congress and the Executive have displayed under trying circumstances. A ‘do-nothing’ policy would have banded together all of the radical elements in this country, giving them unprecedented strength and possibly power to cause disaster.”
— C. O’Conor Goolrick, Fredericksburg

1936
“The simile of a ship, its cargo and crew, may not be inapt. The shipper is the Public, the cargo, Justice, the ship, Practice and Procedure, the Bench and Bar, the officers and crew. If the ship is unseaworthy, or if the officers and crew are unskillful or negligent, the cargo has small chance of reaching destination. The Public, in the role of shipper... is not interested in why Justice miscarried but only in the fact that it did miscarry. The legal profession is responsible for and has control of the instrumentalities employed in distributing justice — if these are inefficient or inadequate, the profession ought to be first in realizing and remedying such a situation.”
— Stuart B. Campbell, Wytheville

1937
“Let us assume that the lawyer has passed the examination and been at the bar a few years in moderate practice. How can such a person preserve what he has, and increase his legal learning, ability and good character?... I sometimes think that every lawyer should be compelled to take an appropriate bar examination every 10 years, to show that he is keeping fit in the profession.”
— James Green Martin, Norfolk

1938
After 13 years of VBA advocacy, the Virginia State Bar was founded.
“We lawyers have been astute in devising ways to defeat natural laws for the redistribution of wealth. For the last 300 years our energies have been directed toward that end. We have been far too successful in protecting our clients in their property. For the sake of the common welfare, it is now time that we gave thought to righting the wrong that we have wrought. Without attempt at solution of the problem, it may be said that the way out does not lie through return to our former method of living.”
— Frank W. Rogers, Roanoke

1939
“Two thousand years ago Israel, one of the greatest of races and one to which all the world is indebted, was bound by laws and one to which all the world is indebted, was bound by laws which may look like rules of play compared with the orders that can spring from the 130 administrative agencies and commissions of the United States government, as now constituted, with 850,000 civilians employed in the administrative service.”
— Lewis Catlett Williams, Richmond

1940-49:
Accentuate the Positive

World War II saw Americans fighting in far-flung locales, as the Allies sought to defeat the Axis Powers on all fronts. At home, we rationed, drilled for Civil Defense, made do and did without. Our prayers for peace were answered in 1945, although East-West tensions continued as the Iron Curtain fell on Eastern Europe. The veterans came home, got married and started the baby boom. As the scars of war healed across the planet, we began to enjoy postwar prosperity, having learned that some things are worth fighting for.

1940
“At this time many of the largest and most powerful countries of the earth have discarded the theory of democratic government and are ruled by dictators or dictatorial cliques, and both in their domestic and foreign relations they have resorted to the rule of might rather than right... To my mind the line of cleavage between autocratic government and democratic or constitutional government is marked and determined by what we are pleased to call the ‘Bill of Rights.’”
— Robert O. Norris Jr., Lively

1941
“I hope you will agree with me... that the [National Defense/Aid to Britain] program is appropriate at this time in our country’s history when all democratic institutions are required to meet the test thrown at them by Nazism, Fascism and other Absolutisms now on a rampage in the world. It is a source of pride that the lawyers of the nation have so swiftly and patriotically mobilized to aid those of our citizens who have been called into military training and to know that the younger members of our profession will acquit themselves with honor to the nation and their profession in any eventuality. The greatest element in democracy is justice and members of our profession are especially qualified to demonstrate that true justice is to be preferred over anything Hitler or his kind have to offer.”
— Kennon C. Whittle, Martinsville

1942
“We are meeting... at a most critical time, as we all know; a fateful time for our country. After the outbreak of the war your officers and Executive Committee considered very seriously whether this meeting ought to be held. We consulted high government officials, we talked to numerous representative members of the Association, and from all we were strongly urged to proceed with the meeting. One high official in the government wrote me this, which I will take the liberty of reading: ‘No other group is making or can make the same contribution as the lawyers to the public morale. Hold your meeting and maintain your organization.’”
—William A. Stuart, Abingdon

1943
“With our nation at war, with our friends and relatives and many members of the Association in active service, your officers recognized that the Association should be geared as an integral part of the war effort. Accordingly, through its Committee on War Work... this Association has been organized into an army of the home front to further the war effort and to protect the legal rights of our servicemen and their families.”
— George E. Haw, Richmond

1944
“In my view, the time is not far distant when ‘grim visaged war will smooth his wrinkled front,’ and ... thoughts of men will turn from plans for destruction to plans of reconstruction, regeneration and rehabilitation... Certainly the Commonwealth of Virginia, proud of her glorious past, will be willing now to make whatever sacrifice may be necessary to bring her educational system up to the highest standard, in order that her returning soldiers and her growing sons and daughters may have the best method of educating and training their minds and bodies.”
— Christopher B. Garnett, Arlington

1945
Wartime regulations prevented the VBA from holding its Annual Meeting in August 1945.
“The Executive Committee made tentative plans to have the usual Annual Meeting the following August [1945], but then came the regulations of the ODT... my law partner, Leonard Muse, came to me one day and said, ‘Johnnie,don’t let a little thing like that bother you. Two such lawyers as Howard Gilmer and you ought to figure out a way to stay in office another year.’ That is what we did. We are holding the 1945 and 1946 Annual Meetings here this week.”
— John L. Walker of Roanoke, chair of the VBA Executive Committee, at the Annual Meeting in September 1946

1946
“Something is happening throughout the world and especially throughout our country, and our great State, in regard to the development and attitude of its children. During the past few years, juvenile delinquency has increased at an alarming rate. The problem now faces us directly because we all know that in the aftermath of war the tendency for all crimes is to increase rather than decrease, and we must act and act now to stem the tide of such delinquency and to develop a definite program for youth conservation.”
— Howard C. Gilmer Jr., Pulaski

1947
“In a world ‘punch drunk’ from war and struggling vainly to find a formula for international peace, it seemed to me that a willingness as well as the necessity of most men to work, rather than to fight, is presently essential if the ravages of war are to be overcome and economic stability restored to mankind in such manner as to make life worth the living. If this is true... have men who are able and willing to work the right to do so in our present-day social order?”
— Thomas B. Gay, Richmond

1948
“Many of you were surprised, and some were startled, when you read... that the Supreme Court of the United States had held in the case of Shelley v. Kraemer, that covenants or agreements in deeds, restricting the sale or occupancy of property to Caucasians ‘standing alone cannot be regarded as a violation of any rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment’ to the Constitution, but that in granting judicial enforcement of such agreements, ‘the states have denied’ non-Caucasians ‘the equal protection of the laws and that, therefore, the action of the state courts [in so doing] cannot stand.’... Although the decision is naturally of interest to lawyers, its implications are so far-reaching, both legally and sociologically, that citizens generally may well concern themselves with the effect of it.”
— John L. Walker, Roanoke

1949
“At Nurnberg and at Tokyo there were courts — not blank walls and firing squads. Here the whole world was able to see international judicial process in action... International criminal law is still in its infancy... It may take a long time to develop a well-ordered and workable system for the trial and punishment of offenders against international law.”
— David Nelson Sutton, West Point

1950-59:
Chasing American Dreams

Did you have a dream in the 1950s? A shiny new convertible? A TV? Equal rights? Whatever it was, you felt it was attainable. Anything was possible in Eisenhower’s America. The vets and their brides had settled into suburbia, a new generation of leaders offered bright promise for the future, and prosperity seemed boundless. Of course, the Cold War gave us goosebumps at the thought of nuclear obliteration, and the civil rights movement reminded us that not all Americans enjoyed such bliss. But one could always dream. It just might come true.

1950
“No profession holds higher privileges than lawyers, and surely so long as the contest remains ideological we should form ourselves as shock troops... Events of recent weeks are ominous and point to great events in human history... The world’s peace and liberty are threatened by the most savage despotism which has appeared since the days of Genghis Khan, and only America possesses the power to preserve the liberties which have been won in the past centuries.”
— James S. Easley, Halifax

1951
“We of the legal profession from the very nature of our work and calling have a responsibility to the courts and to the administration of justice in our courts... We are today facing insidious perils to the foundations of our government, our young men are fighting and dying for the freedom our government has always stood for, and it surely behooves us to protect the bulwarks of that freedom as they have been in the past. We must strive and labor constantly for freedom — for individual freedom and for freedom of our profession from any form of socialism.”
— W.R. Broaddus Jr., Martinsville

1952
“Isolationism... received its first real body blow at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The coming of the atomic era killed it... [My subject] is what the lawyers can do at the present time to mitigate the disruption which will be suffered by our people in case of atomic attacks and what the lawyers can presently do to assure the continued and uninterrupted work of the courts and the flow of legal procedure in the event of such devastating attacks.”
— Alexander W. Parker, Richmond

1953
“Gentlemen, in my section of Virginia we still argue cases before the jury and sometimes get pretty loud and rambunctious about it and one day a minister was going through one of our county seats and stopped to buy a Coca-Cola. It happened the drugstore was just across the street from the courthouse and as he was drinking his Coca-Cola he could hear the stentorian tones rolling out of the courthouse. He turned around to the druggist and said: ‘I suppose you are having the argument of a big murder trial.’ The druggist said: ‘No, that is just one of our local boys taking a judgment by default.’”
— Fred B. Greear, Norton

1954
“Everyone here present would agree that the leading judicial decision of the past year was that of the Supreme Court of the United States on May 17, 1954, that segregation by race in the public schools is no longer compatible with the Constitution of the United States. Much has been said already of this decision; much more is yet to be said... Indeed some see the millennium at hand.”
— T. Justin Moore, Richmond

1955
“During the argument of a divorce case before the court some time ago, my opposing counsel made this statement, ‘What does Mr. Wagenheim know about divorce? He has never experienced marriage nor had a wife and children of his own.’ To this rather startling observation I replied, ‘Your Honor, it is true that I have never been married and for that very reason my thinking on this particular subject is my own, and it is not dominated by my wife nor influenced by my children.’”
— Michael B. Wagenheim, Norfolk

1956
“The significance of the next 30 years is obvious as a period in which the world will witness the effect on civilization of the explosive expansion of knowledge now in progress in the natural sciences... There is one ultimate question when we speak of the future. Will there be any future? In the answer to this the lawyer has a large part.”
— F.D.G. Ribble, Charlottesville

1957
“The younger members... asked the Executive Committee several months ago to add a new bylaw so as to create a section of younger members. Your Executive Committee thought it highly advisable and they are proposing an additional amendment which creates the Junior Bar Section.”
— Edwin B. Meade, Danville

1958
“The men and women of our profession should carefully study the Constitution... for the very practical purpose of fitting themselves to inform the people, so that they may wisely exercise their franchise... We must inoculate the public against future invasion by ideologies to which we are not adjusted and which we do not want.”
— J. Sloan Kuykendall, Winchester

1959
“In recent years there has been a tremendous development in this field of continuing legal education... a matter of a day or two days or three days, or in the evenings or on Saturday—tailored to fit the local need. We feel there is a very great need for that sort of thing and I, for one, would certainly be happy to go back to school.”
— David J. Mays, Richmond

1960-69:
Taking It to the Streets

The Soaring Sixties! America’s astronauts, leading the space race with the USSR, became the decade’s folk heroes. With assassinations, the Vietnam War, racial tensions and student revolts here on earth, we needed celestial inspiration. But after all, it was the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. The British invaded our shores with moptopped pop musicians and bold new fashions. Older people shook their heads; young America hopped rides for Woodstock and Haight-Ashbury. As Bob Dylan warbled, “The times they are a-changin’...”

1960
“We talk about plaintiffs’ and defendants’ lawyers. Aren’t there any just plain lawyers left?... Specialization is rampant and I have a terrible feeling specialization will destroy us. We must stop our disorganization and our disassociation and walk through life as a real and united profession, as lawyers and not as specialists.”
— William P. Dickson Jr., Norfolk

1961
“The lawyer must devote hours to planning estates for clients and preparing their wills and then in his busy life he overlooks the most important estate he can plan and the most important will he has to prepare, his own... [Lawyers] are afraid that if they make a will or plan for their widows they are not long for this world.”
— Robert J. McCandlish Jr., Fairfax

1962
“The legal profession was the first profession. The priesthood was of course older, but it was not professional... This affinity between religion and law is based on established precedent of long standing. Some 600 years ago a lawyer was canonized as a saint for his advancement of the law. That was, of course, Saint Ives of Brittany, about whom his contemporaries said, ‘He was a lawyer, yet not a rascal, and the people were astonished.’”
— William T. Muse, Richmond

1963
VBA member Lewis F. Powell Jr. of Richmond was elected as the American Bar Association President, then became an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971.
“It would be a very pleasant thing for me to say — if it were true — that our endorsement last summer of Lewis Powell for President-elect of the American Bar Association had something to do with his selection as President-elect Nominee at the New Orleans meeting in January. But everybody knows that our endorsement had nothing to do with it. We simply climbed aboard a speeding bandwagon.”
— Waldo G. Miles, Bristol

1964
The VBA held its first “midwinter meeting” in Williamsburg in January 1964.
“Admittedly, euphemisms are not new... But euphemisms in my youth were the seed, not the flower of the Euphemistic Age. Upon the chance you may have difficulty recalling these bygone days, an illustration may assist you: I do not know that women’s undergarments were ever discussed in my father’s presence... but I am certain that if they ever were, they were called drawers. If they had been called panties, there would have been murder, and I would have heard of that.”
— Thomas C. Gordon Jr., Richmond

1965
“The New Virginia Lawyer... will have passed his bar exam and have a license to practice; he will have worked summers at a wide variety of jobs, or traveled throughout the world; he will have spent some time in the armed forces. He will even be able to dance the Watusi, which may help. Still, I believe you will agree with me, he often has a lot to learn... we have a golden opportunity to help him develop a sense of integrity through adherence to the tradition that you should not have to look at a canon of legal ethics to know right from wrong.”
— Virginius R. Shackelford Jr., Orange

1966
“For the first time the Association ventured into a Northern Virginia winter for a meeting devoted in large part to a discussion of the impact of the Johnson administration’s anti-poverty program upon the legal profession... The reaction of our members to the Government’s grand design to subsidize neighborhood law offices and lawyers throughout the country and to make available free legal services... was almost as cold as the blizzard which shortly thereafter enveloped us. Of the meeting this at least can be said with confidence — there will never be another one as cold or as long.”
— George M. Cochran, Staunton

1967
The VBA received its first African-American member, Herman Benn of Richmond.
“The experience of being your President during the past year has been unforgettable. There are many other adjectives which can partially describe it, such as memorable, busy, hectic, frenzied, itinerant, full, broadening, and so forth... I characterize the year as did our astronaut when he said, ‘It was one fireball of a ride.’”
— A.C. Epps, Richmond

1968
“It is obvious that there has been a tremendous increase in crime in the United States in the last few years... Another grave problem for law enforcement authorities is the increasing use of barbiturates, ‘pep’ pills, drugs and marijuana which often leads to use of narcotics... Unruly students have taken possession of university buildings in an attempt to enforce demands or changes. In some cases it was necessary to call in the police to expel and arrest the students.”
— William A. Moncure, Alexandria

1969
“The Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission will become a reality if the next session of the General Assembly again approves the amendment and the voters follow suit at the polls in November 1970... Suffice it to say that the establishment of such a commission would be a large step forward in maintaining the high standards of judges after they take office, and consequently would be most beneficial in maintaining and improving the quality of the administration of justice in our state.”
— G.R.C. Stuart, Abingdon

1970-79:
Running on Empty

Vietnam! Watergate! The Bicentennial! Disco Inferno! The 1970s got in your face and made you get down and boogie. Elvis may have left the building, but John Travolta gave us Saturday Night Fever. Incredibly tacky fashions were matched by outrageous, if-it-feels-good-do-it, behavior. This liberated decade was sandwiched between images of Vietnam POWs and Iranian hostages. Who cared about the future, the economy, or anything that didn’t promise immediate gratification? We were too busy being free, even with the energy crisis.

1970
“There still remains... a good deal of confusion in the public mind. We have the Virginia State Bar and The Virginia State Bar Association and the public generally does not understand the difference between the two. After almost 80 years of having the name ‘Virginia State Bar Association,’ I am sure that there are many of us who would be reluctant to change it. It does appear, however, that just with the dropping of the word ‘State’ from our name, so that we were ‘The Virginia Bar Association,’ we might make it a little clearer that we are not an arm of the State and that we are a voluntary Association.”
— Toy D. Savage Jr., Norfolk

1971
“Can any of us take a hard look at the legal crisis in this country today and go on clinging to the traditional notion that if we properly represent our client, and our adversary does likewise, the result will somehow work out to be not only the best obtainable for the clients themselves, but will also be in the public interest? I submit that in the relatively calm waters of Virginia, we cannot say that the absurdities of the Manson trial are none of our concern because they happened in California; or that the ludicrous spectacle of taking three months to select a jury to try Bobby Seale is only a matter for the Connecticut bar; or that the delays in getting cases to trial in Virginia’s more densely populated areas are unimportant because the delay is so much longer in New York or Chicago...”
— E. Waller Dudley, Alexandria

1972
“In the urbanized society of today the vast majority... do not know where to turn when they have a problem requiring a lawyer. And yet about half the practicing lawyers in this country are still of the long tradition of general practice available for all who might come to them for any and all legal matters. How to get the two together is to a large extent the unresolved problem today, and the talents of these lawyers must be brought into some newly structured system of expanded legal services... lest these lawyers become the forgotten lawyers, like the forgotten clients to whom the profession is now responsible.”
— John S. Davenport III, Richmond

1973
“This year we as a profession have suffered from a crisis of confidence. Watergate has triggered attacks on us from many sources... All lawyers, we hear, are manipulators, liars, self-serving, and interested only in gaining power and money for themselves. These assertions I respectfully deny, and suggest to you that we, collectively, must rebut them by supporting fair disciplinary proceedings by organized bars charged with this responsibility against attorneys who have violated their trust.”
— Vernon M. Geddy Jr., Williamsburg

1974
Three weeks before he succeeded Richard Nixon as U.S. President, Gerald Ford addressed the VBA at the Summer Meeting.
“Mr. Vice President, we are mighty glad you didn’t sit back in Washington tonight... We also like your proclamation of faith in this profession. We share that.We are proud to be lawyers. We think this Association is carrying on worthwhile activities in contributing not just to our pocketbooks — not nearly so much to our pocketbooks as to the public interest, and that is what we think we ought to be doing.”
— W. Gibson Harris, Richmond

1975
“I want to be able in the future to say that, whether the change is an improvement or a burden upon the legal profession, I tried to contribute to what was good about the change and to effect the retention of what was good about the present system. To do this, the only means that I know is to work affirmatively through the local, state and national bar groups of which I am a member. If each lawyer will do the same, we will represent a strength that will make itself heard effectively. If each of us is content to let others make the decisions for us, then I can assure you that there will be someone willing to make those decisions solely to satisfy a desire to grease the wheel whose squeak he hears.”
—Thomas V. Monahan, Winchester

1976
“I am honored to be President of our Association during... this Bicentennial year... Concurrent with our tributes to the past, Virginia lawyers must examine the present and future. We might review the lofty language of the purpose of our Virginia Bar Association... How do we fulfill this purpose in an age of consumerism, an atmosphere of mistrust of government and at a time when many of the basic tenets of our profession are being attacked? We must have a rational, probing and systematic consideration of how our legal institutions will function in tomorrow’s world.”
— William B. Spong Jr., Portsmouth

1977
“Our survival of Watergate, surely the most serious test of both our legal system and the Constitution itself, leads us now into the close of the 20th century with cautious optimism... Our present determination to do something about the condition of lawyers, as well as conditions in the society in which we abide, may stem from an unarticulated premonition of impending danger. In any case, we have been drawn up short by the realization that there may be no happy tomorrows without wise and sure moves today.”
— A. Hugo Blankingship Jr., Fairfax

1978
“It is arguable that the dates March 19-22, 1978, may go down as the most important in the future of American judicial administration. No one would dare make such a claim at this moment, but the conference which was held on those dates, known as ‘Williamsburg II,’ marked a very significant milestone in the efforts of many to improve the administration of justice throughout our land. The conference was, of course, held to mark the dedication of the headquarters building of the National Center for State Courts, with the construction of which our Association and so many of our members have been intimately involved.”
— Edward R. Slaughter Jr., Charlottesville

1979
“Of the various important questions about which bar associations should be concerned, two stand out in their demand for attention: first, how to responsibly meet the demand from the public for improvement of the system for delivering legal services and, second, how, without being or appearing to be unduly self-serving, to improve the public’s confidence in and opinion of lawyers. In the long run, of course, answering the first question will provide a part of the answer to the second, but the second is too important to be left solely to indirect solutions.”
— Jesse B. Wilson III, Fairfax

1980-89:
Don’t Worry,
Be Happy

Bigger, better, bolder: As Michael Douglas said in Wall Street, “Greed is good.” Some of the new tycoons crashed and burned by decade’s end, but their trophy wives evaded the “bonfire of the vanities.” A strange virus soon became a four-letter word none could forget. The Gipper told us it was “Morning in America”; George Bush advised, “Read my lips”; but it was Bobby McFerrin’s advice, “Don’t worry, be happy,” that we took to heart. We woke at dawn for two royal weddings, never dreaming that fairy tales don’t always come true.

1980
“I feel it is time for attorneys to go on the attack — to be positive in ‘upholding and elevating the standard of honor, integrity and courtesy in the legal profession’ which phrase is part of the stated purpose of our Association. We have been involved in a somewhat agonizing appraisal of our profession. Self-examination and criticism are healthy as long as paranoia does not develop.”
— L. Lee Bean Jr., Arlington

1981
“I would hope in the next few years that Virginia would again look closely at specialization. The ABA model plan places no limits on any lawyer, whether or not certified as a specialist, to practice in all fields of law. But it does restrict advertising of a specialty to only those persons who keep themselves current in the law of that particular specialty through continuing legal education and daily practice in that area. This one program would do much to insure the competency of our lawyers in Virginia and in addition, meet the organized bar’s responsibility to let the public know which lawyers are qualified to handle their particular problems.”
— Hugh L. Patterson, Norfolk

1982
“Such a report [on the specific activities and achievements of the Association and its committees] does not fully answer the question why The Virginia Bar Association is unique. The complete answer involves... a group spirit, a sense of pride and honor shared by its members who have joined together to work on matters in which they share a common interest. Its members are... good men and women who are willing to give of their time and talent to improve the administration of justice for the benefit of all the people of Virginia.”
— John F. Kay Jr., Richmond

1983
“The Association has continued to enjoy a steady growth in membership, but we intend to engage in an even more intensified effort to increase our numbers. This step is necessary not only to provide the financial support for our growing activities, but also to make our voice louder with a broader base. Our program will include attracting more women and minority members.”
— John L. Walker Jr., Roanoke

1984
“When leaders of the various bar associations from around the country meet, one of the favorite topics... is the question of what effect the burgeoning numbers will have on our profession. Public opinion seems to be that there are too many lawyers and the statistics show that the lawyer population is growing much faster than the nation’s population... Have students been flocking to our law schools because they hear big bucks can be earned as lawyers? Could it be that our profession has over the years moved away from professional ideals and ethics toward the business aspects of law? The public apparently perceives us that way and the facts seem to bear this out.”
— George G. Grattan IV, Earlysville

1985
“Committees of both the Association and the Virginia State Bar have considered whether some program should be undertaken to identify and promote the rehabilitation of lawyers whose practice is impaired by alcohol or drug abuse. Studies in other states have indicated that a large percentage of the lawyers against whom disciplinary proceedings are brought are known to have problems with alcohol, and both committees have concluded that there is a need for such a program in Virginia. Consideration of the experience... in other states indicates they can be very successful.”
— Evans B. Brasfield, Richmond

1986
“Over the next year, we will be taking preliminary steps to convert several of our substantive law committees into sections or divisions... While much of the division activity will be similar to the work of our existing committees, by increasing numbers and permitting substantial subcommittee work within the division concept we will involve substantially more people in our law reform and public service projects while simultaneously improving the goal of contributing to the continuous professional development of members of the bar.”
— Edmund L. Walton Jr., McLean

1987
“Why does it take three and one-half years to process a civil appeal in Virginia?... Chief Justice Carrico recently announced that he is appointing a Commission on the Future of Virginia’s Judicial System... We hope that the work of the Bar Association will compliment and dovetail with the work of the Commission. Lack of adequate appellate capacity in Virginia is a serious problem now. By the year 2000, Virginia’s population will grow to 6.6 million persons. Unless changes are made, the problem will only get worse.”
— R. Gordon Smith, Richmond

1988
“This year, The Virginia Bar Association is celebrating its Centennial while the nation continues to celebrate the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution. The Virginia Bar Association has chosen to commemorate these events in a practical yet inspirational manner by assuming a leading role in raising the funds necessary to meet the [John Marshall] Foundation’s needs [to restore the John Marshall House, to permanently endow its operation and maintenance and to preserve its collection and artifacts]... Few Americans, however, and too few Virginians, are aware of John Marshall’s contribution to his country and his Commonwealth beyond his service on the highest court. The house we seek to preserve is more than a memorial to our greatest Chief Justice.”
— John M. Ryan, Norfolk

1989
“Never before have lawyers been so conscious of ‘marketing.’ Firms react to the advice of marketing and public relations consultants. They develop marketing strategies and maintain marketing staffs. It is glib to decry these actions as departures from ‘professionalism.’ They are reactions to the competitive realities of the practice as it has evolved. Yet neither can we surrender abjectly to the pressures of the marketplace. We must rather bring the principles underlying what we cherish in the profession to bear upon the existing conditions of the practice.”
— Thomas T. Lawson, Roanoke

1990-99:
Dancing on the Edge

As the new millennium neared, we sought diversions to ward off our anxieties. The Gulf War, O.J. Simpson, the deaths of Princess Diana and JFK Jr., and White House scandals became TV spectacles; the networks, losing viewers to cable, needed all the help they could get. Tellingly, the hit movie of the 1990s was the disaster film Titanic. We wept for Kosovo and Oklahoma City, danced the Macarena, and prayed that the Apocalypse wouldn’t happen quite yet. Unfortunately, a rash of school and office shootings made us think it had already come.

2000
Although there have been female Association members since at least the early 1920s, the VBA in 2000 will have its first woman president, Anita Owings Poston of Norfolk. In line to succeed her as president in 2001 is Jeanne F. Franklin of Alexandria, the 1999 chair of the Association’s Executive Committee.

Poston and Franklin were among the women leaders of the Association who founded the first VBA Women’s Roundtable at the Association’s Annual Meeting in 1998 as a forum for women members to share professional concerns and experiences — quite a change from the days when the only events for women on the VBA meeting schedule were coffees, teas and other events for “lawyers’ wives.”