Washington and Lee University School of Law - Notable Alumni

Notable Alumni

W&L Law has produced many notable graduates in Virginia, and at the national and global level. Included amongst the alumni ranks are two Justices of the United States Supreme Court, six Presidents of the American Bar Association, two Solicitors General of the United States, one major party candidate for President of the United States, Presidential Cabinet members, as well as numerous state governors, United States Congressmen, United States Senators, federal and state judges, influential academics, business leaders, and distinguished attorneys. The list below is not exhaustive. The date following the name is the Law School class. Alumni with two dates also attended as undergraduates and the order is alphabetical.

• Edward L. Allen 1987 – Vice-President of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and named partner at Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen
• Samuel B. Avis - United States Congressman from West Virginia from 1913 to 1915
• Ronald J. Bacigal 1967 — Professor of law, University of Richmond School of Law
• Robert D. Bailey, Jr. - West Virginia Secretary of State from 1965 to 1969
• Newton D. Baker 1894 — Secretary of War under President Woodrow Wilson, Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, and named partner at BakerHostetler
• Shawn Boyer 1997 - Founder and CEO of Snagajob.com
• Terry Brooks 1969 — Author of fantasy fiction, 12 million copies in print
• Franklin Brockson - United States Congressman from Delaware from 1913 to 1915
• William T. Brotherton, Jr. - Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of West Virginia from 1989 to 1994
• Clarence J. Brown 1915 - President of Brown Publishing Company and US Congressman from Ohio from 1939 to 1965
• David Brown - Former host of the Marketplace radio program
• Nathan P. Bryan 1895 - US Senator from the State of Florida, Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• William James Bryan 1899 - US Senator from Florida
• Archibald C. Buchanan 1914 - Justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia
• Stokely G. Caldwell, Jr. 1986 - Sports law specialist and one of the most influential NASCAR lawyers in the country, listed as one of NASCAR's "Top 20 Most Influential Individuals"
• Edmund Douglass Campbell 1922 - Notable civil rights attorney
• Preston C. Came, J.D., CFP 1996, Vice President, The Northern Trust Company
• Bruce L. Castor, Jr. 1986 — District Attorney, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (2000–2008), Commissioner, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (2008- ), President Pennsylvania District Attorneys' Association
• Lewis Preston Collins II - Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
• Christian Compton 1950, 1953 - Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1974-2006
• Edward Cooper - US Congressman from West Virginia from 1915 to 1919
• William Fadjo Cravens - US Congressman from Arkansas
• John J. Davis 1856 - United States Representative from West Virginia
• John W. Davis 1895, 1892 — 1924 Democratic nominee for United States President; Ambassador to Britain; Solicitor General; argued more cases before the Supreme Court than anyone else in the twentieth century; American Bar Association President; first President of the Council on Foreign Relations; and named partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell
• Mark Steven Davis 1988 - United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia
• John DiPippa 1978 — former Dean of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law
• Joe Donnelly 1981- United States Senator from Indiana
• John W. Eggleston 1910 - Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court from 1958 to 1969
• Gay Elmore - Two time Southern Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year
• Vance A. Funk, III 1968 - Mayor of Newark, Delaware
• John Goode - 3rd Solicitor General of the United States and United States Congressman from Virginia
• Bob Goodlatte 1977 - United States Congressman from Virginia
• R. Booth Goodwin 1996 - United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia
• Herbert B. Gregory 1911 - Justice on the Virginia Supreme Court from 1930 to 1951
• Robert J. Grey, Jr. 1976 - American Bar Association President 2004–2005
• Charles A. Graves 1872 - Professor at W&L Law and at the University of Virginia School of Law
• Morgan Griffith 1983 - Congressman from Virginia
• Duncan Lawrence Groner 1894 - US Attorney, Federal District Judge for United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
• Ondray T. Harris - Executive director of the Public Employee Relations Board of the District of Columbia
• Alexander M. Harman, Jr. - Justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1969 to 1979
• James Hay 1877 - United States Representative from Virginia and Federal Judge on the United States Court of Claims
• George Washington Hays - Governor of Arkansas from 1913 to 1917
• Homer A. Holt 1918, 1923 - Governor of West Virginia from 1937 to 1941
• James Murray Hooker 1896 - US Congressman from Virginia
• Robert Huntley 1950, 1957 - Former Dean of W&L Law, former President of Washington and Lee University, former President, Chairman, and CEO of Best Products
• Jerrauld Jones 1980 - Judge on the Norfolk Circuit Court
• Charles E. James, Jr. 1999 - Chief Deputy Attorney General of Virginia (2010)
• Walter Kelley 1977, 1981 - Former federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia and current partner at Jones Day
• James L. Kemper - 1842, Governor of Virginia, Confederate General Leading Pickett's Charge
• Jackson L. Kiser 1952 - Judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia
• Ruby Laffoon 1890 - Governor of Kentucky
• Joseph Rucker Lamar 1878 — Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of the United States Supreme Court (1911–1916), Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia (1903-1905)
• Edwin Gray Lee 1859 - Brigadier General in the Confederate States of America
• Harry Jacob Lemley 1910 - Federal Judge on both the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas and the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
• Sydney Lewis 1940, 1943 - Prominent Virginia businessman, art collector, and founder of Best Products, recipient with his wife, Frances, in 1987, of the National Medal of the Arts
• Scott Marion Loftin 1899 - US Senator from Florida and President of the American Bar Association
• Mary Beth Long 1998 - Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs at the United States Department of Defense and former attorney with Williams & Connolly LLP
• Daniel B. Lucas - Poet and justice on the Supreme Court of West Virginia from 1889 to 1892
• Ross L. Malone, Jr. 1932 - United States Deputy Attorney General, General Counsel to General Motors, President of the American Bar Association
• John Otho Marsh, Jr. 1951 - Secretary of the Army, 1981–1989, United States Congressman
• Henry M. Mathews 1857 - Governor of West Virginia
• Robert Murphy Mayo 1859 - United States Representative from Virginia
• John Ashton MacKenzie 1939 - Federal Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
• Thomas Chipman McRae - Governor of Arkansas, United States Representative
• Robert E. Payne 1967 - Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
• Miles Poindexter 1891 - Senator from the State of Washington
• Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. 1929, 1931 — Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1972–1987), President of the American Bar Association, and named partner at Hunton Williams Gay Powell & Gibson
• William Ray Price, Jr. 1978 - Longest serving judge and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri
• Prescott Prince 1983 — Attorney defending Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
• Lacey E. Putney — Longest serving member of the Virginia House of Delegates in the history of the Virginia General Assembly
• Heartsill Ragon - US Congressman from Arkansas and federal judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
• Robert W. Ray 1985 - Partner at Pryor Cashman LLP in New York City and former head of the US Office of the Independent Counsel (succeeded Kenneth Starr)
• Alfred E. Reames 1893 — US Senator from Oregon
• Gordon P. Robertson - CEO of the Christian Broadcasting Network
• Daniel K. Sadler - Justice on the New Mexico Supreme Court
• Tom Sansonetti 1976 - United States Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division
• Robert Shepherd 1959, 1961 — Professor emeritus of law, University of Richmond School of Law
• Abram Penn Staples 1908 - Attorney General of Virginia and justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia
• Roscoe B. Stephenson, Jr. 1943, 1947 - Justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia
• William F. Stone, Jr. 1966 - Judge for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia
• Ashley L. Taylor Jr. 1993 - Partner with Troutman Sanders LLP and recognized as one of "The 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America" in 2008 by the National Law Journal
• Charles L. Terry, Jr. - Governor of Delaware 1961–1965
• Paul S. Trible, Jr. 1971 — Former US Senator from Virginia, President of Christopher Newport University
• William M. Tuck 1921 - Governor of Virginia
• Henry St. George Tucker III 1876 - US Congressman from Virginia and President of the American Bar Association
• David Gardiner Tyler 1869 - United States Representative, Son of President John Tyler, Present at Lee's surrender at Appomattox
• William R. Vance 1869 - Professor at Yale Law School, and Dean of W&L Law, George Washington University Law School, and the University of Minnesota Law School
• Sol Wachtler - former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals (1985–1993)
• Junius Edgar West - 22nd Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
• Kennon C. Whittle 1914 - Justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia and President of the Virginia Bar Association
• H. Emory Widener, Jr. 1953 - Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Seward H. Williams 1895 - US Congresman from Ohio
• Christopher Wolf 1980 - Partner at Hogan Lovells and widely recognized as one of the leading American practitioners in the field of privacy and data security law
• Harry M. Wurzbach 1896 - US Congressman from Texas
• Christopher J. Yianilos 1997 - Deputy Chief of Staff & Legislative Director, United States Senator John Warner; author of The Law School Breakthrough