Volume 13, Issue 1
Fall 2001
We have included a short note about two distinguished and deceased lawyers, so that we might be reminded of the human side of our role models. Their unique qualities are especially important in times like these. We hope to continue such short verbal portraits, so send us a note about your favorite.
Frank Crenshaw
JOHN S. EGGLESTON
McGuire, Riely, Eggleston & Bocock
Richmond Virginia
Mr. Eggleston was a brilliant lawyer, but he turned away more business than he accepted. What he accepted he did to perfection. When Mr. Eggleston wrote a letter, he wrote it in shorthand, then called a secretary, then checked the typed copy against his shorthand. He was the only lazy perfectionist I ever knew.
Mr. Eggleston came to work and left our office for Imperial Tobacco Company at the same hour each day. If you happened to arrive at the precise hour, you rode the elevator with Mr. Eggleston. "Good morning, Mr. Eggleston; It's a nice day, isn't it?" His response: "They are getting ready to strike us down, and I dread that God damn Douglas Freeman writing about the Virginia reeverara and the smell of burning leaves." (Douglas Freeman was editor of the New Leader.)
My friend Edgar Andrews, another associate, was in the office on a Saturday morning when Mr. Richard S. Reynolds called saying that a carload of aluminum had been seized and he wanted a partner. Edgar searched the office and to his great surprise Mr. Eggleston was in. (The only day that Mr. Richard S. Reynolds called the office and the only Saturday that Mr. Eggleston came to the office.) "I don't know nothing about aluminum. If it were tobacco, I could help him, but not aluminum." Edgar asked what he should tell Mr. Reynolds, to which Mr. Eggleston replied "Tell him to go to hell." Frantic by that time, Edgar called Mr. Woods who handled that matter.
Mr. Eggleston was also a director of the then State-Planters Bank. After one meeting of the Board, Mr. Eggleston returned to his office to write a letter of resignation. Dr. Vanderhoof had sat in his chair. Harry Augustine, who was president of the bank, commissioned Harvie Wilkinson, a newly elected executive vice president, to persuade Mr. Eggleston to withdraw his resignation. Harvie used all his powers of persuasion, pointing out that Dr. Vanderhoof was a new member and didn't know he was sitting in Mr. Eggleston's chair. In the end, Mr. Eggleston relented.
I had been working on a certain question for about two weeks without result. So I went to Mr. Eggleston's office and knocked on his door, interrupting his work on a crossword puzzle, and posed the question. Mr. Eggleston gave the matter a few minutes' thought and then announced the answer without reservation. Thinking it would be well to use the Socratic method, I mentioned the other side of the case, to which Mr. Eggleston with his gruff voice said "God damn, don't come in here and argue with me." I escaped promptly.
Thomas C. Gordon, Jr.
Richmond, Virginia
SLOAN KUYKENDALL
Kuykendall, Johnston, McKee & Butler
Winchester, Virginia
Pages could be written about Sloan Kuykendall--about his service to the bar, his community and his state; about the many honors that he received; about his knowledge and love of the law; and on and on. But I knew him best during his service as president of the Virginia Board of Examiners--a Board upon which he served for 38 years, 14 years of which as its president. Of all the public service Sloan rendered, I know that this one ranked at or near the top in his mind.
When I joined the board in 1978 as its junior member and attended my first meeting, I was apprehensive about how I would be received by Mr. Kuykendall and the other long time members of the board. Though I had worked with a commission of which he was a member for several years before, I did not know him or the other members of the board well, and I was concerned that I would be considered an inadequate replacement for the well-respected member who had died. Sloan (he insisted that I call him that) and the others immediately put me at ease and were gracious in accepting me (and my wife, as I will later explain) as a member of the board. Thus began a relationship that I cherish as one of the high points of my legal career.
Sloan Kuykendall was very much a man of the "old school" in every way that was good, but was very contemporary in his thinking. He was courtly and distinguished in appearance and bearing, but not aloof or distant. Though he was serious in his dedication to the law and the legal profession, he did not take himself too seriously. Sloan had a wonderful sense of humor and enjoyed companionship and conversation with good friends. The primary objective of Sloan in his work in the board (and in everything he undertook) was quality and fairness. This was demonstrated time and time again in the preparation of the questions to be given, the grading and re-grading of papers, conferences with those who failed the examination or the consideration of applications to take the exam beyond the number of times prescribed by statute without permission of the board. The applicant was always given the benefit of the doubt because Sloan was conscious of the sacrifice that those who were seeking to practice law had made to get their legal education. Sloan never lost dedication and enthusiasm though he served for 38 years.One of the most pleasant and rewarding customs of the board meetings conducted by our leader was that after our work day was completed, the members and staff, and the wives of the members, who in those days often accompanied their husbands, gathered in Sloan’s suite for pre dinner conversation and a touch of grape. We would then adjourn to a good dinner. It was conviviality at its best. The next morning it was expected that the members would join Sloan for breakfast to discuss the business of the day. Later, the wives would get together for their breakfast and to plan their day.
Sloan was one of only a few lawyers that I have known whom I would characterize as truly great.
Jack Kay
Richmond, VA