William J. Hughes, Jr. Papers

William Joseph Hughes, Jr., lawyer and educator, was born in Washington, D.C., February 7, 1896. He was graduated A.B. in 1917, LL.B. in 1920, and LL.M. in 1921 at Georgetown University. Admitted to the District of Columbia bar in 1920, he conducted a private law practice with his father from 1921-1924. He opened his own law office with William E. Leahy in 1924 and continued in that association until Leahy's death in 1964. Hughes retired from an active law practice in 1970. He specialized in civil and federal procedure which he taught at Georgetown University Law School from 1928-1970. He was made professor emeritus upon his retirement from Georgetown in 1970. He coauthored with his father a sixteen-volume set of books on procedures in federal courts, Hughes Federa1 Practice Jurisdiction & Procedure, which became a standard law reference. In 1931, as an appellate lawyer, Hughes represented Albert B. Fall in a court suit which resulted in Fall's conviction for taking a bribe in the Teapot Dome Scandal ( The Papers and material concerned with the Fall case are not in this collection). In addition to legal work, Hughes was director of the National Metropolitan Bank of Washington, D.C. He served as a U.S. army captain during the First World War. From 1942-1947 he held the rank of colonel and served as assistant chief and then later as chief of the Military Justice Division of the Judge Advocate General Department of the Army. He was awarded the the U.S. Legion of Merit in 1947; the Georgetown University School of Law Legionnaire Medal of Honor in 1964; and the Georgetown University National Alumni Achievement Award in 1962. Hughes was married to Dorothy Wimsatt of Washington, D.C., in 1929 and had four children. After seventy-seven years of service to the law, to the community, and to education, William J. Hughes, Jr. died January 26, 1974 in Washington, D.C.