Honorable Charles Clark
Charles Clark (LLB 48) was born in Memphis, Tenn., and raised in Cleveland, Miss. After graduating from the public school system in Cleveland, Clark attended Millsaps College and then transferred to Tulane University, where he received his bachelor’s degree.
In 1945, Clark was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve and served aboard a destroyer in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, Clark returned to Mississippi and attended The University of Mississippi School of Law. He began practicing law soon after graduation at the firm of Wells, Wells, Newman & Thomas in Jackson. In 1951, the Korean War began to heat up, and Clark re-enlisted with the Naval Reserve as a lieutenant.
In 1961, Clark teamed with Vardaman S. Dunn and William Harold Cox Jr. to form the law firm of Cox, Dunn & Clark in Jackson. That year he also took on the part-time work of special assistant to the attorney general of the state of Mississippi, a responsibility he fulfilled until 1966. In 1969, President Richard M. Nixon appointed Clark to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He held this post until 1992, writing more than 2,800 opinions during this 22-year period. He served as chief judge of the Fifth Circuit from 1981-92. Upon resigning his position on the bench of the Fifth Circuit in January 1992, Clark joined his former law partners Dunn and Cox at the Watkins & Eager law firm in Jackson as an appellate advocate and mediator.
Clark died in 2011, leaving behind Emily, his wife of more than 60 years, their six children and 13 grandchildren.
Robert J. Farley
posthumously
Robert J. Farley, who was first employed by The University of Mississippi School of Law in 1926 as an assistant professor, built a career that is still honored on campus today.
In fact, the former law school building, now housing the Meek School of Journalism and New Media, was named Farley Hall in honor of his service and the service of his ancestor Leonard J. Farley, who was UM law dean from 1913-1921.
Farley served as law dean from 1946 to 1963.
In a history of the UM School of Law, former UM law dean Parham Williams said, “With the advent of World War II, most of the faculty and students entered military service … When Bob Farley was appointed dean in February 1946, he faced many of the problems which confronted (L.Q.C.) Lamar in 1866; the academic program had been disrupted, the faculty was scattered, and there were few students.”
Despite the challenges, Farley was able to encourage rapid enrollment growth at the law school and recruited a highly-respected faculty. Under Farley, the admissions standards were strengthened so as to require a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution, the minimum requirement for the Bachelor of Laws degree was increased from 78 to 82 hours, faculty salaries were improved, and, in 1959, an annex to the Law Building was completed and occupied. In 1954, Farley was honored with election to the presidency of the Mississippi Bar.
“Upon his retirement in 1963, Farley could reflect with justifiable satisfaction upon the growth and progress of the School of Law under his leadership,” Williams wrote. “In statistical terms, the enrollment had quintupled, the faculty had grown two-fold, the library holdings had doubled and the building had been substantially enlarged. More important, the reputation of the school as an institution of academic strength and integrity had been firmly established.”
William F. Goodman, Jr.
William F. Goodman Jr. (LLB 51) graduated from Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tenn. In 1949, he received his undergraduate degree, with honors, from Millsaps College and moved to Oxford to attend law school. After graduation, Goodman served in the United States Army, reaching the rank of first lieutenant.
After serving his country, Goodman joined the law firm of Watkins & Eager in 1953, where he continues to practice today. Goodman has been honored with invitation-only memberships in the Mississippi Bar Foundation, the American Bar Foundation, the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and the American College of Trial Lawyers. For 25 consecutive years, he has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America. He has served as president of the Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association and of the Hinds County Bar Association.
Goodman served as director of the executive committee of Trustmark Corporation and Trustmark National Bank. Millsaps College named Goodman its Alumnus of the Year in 1997. In 2001, he received the Professionalism Award presented by the Hinds County Bar. In 2004, he was honored with the Professionalism Award of the Mississippi Bar Foundation. The Law Alumni Chapter named Goodman, in 2008, The University of Mississippi School of Law’s Alumnus of the Year.
Bill and his wife, the former Edwina McDuffie of Aberdeen, have three children— Will Goodman III, Patricia Goodman Ammons and Meg Goodman Richards—and six grandchildren.
James McClure, Jr.
James McClure, Jr. (LLB 53) currently serves as a senior partner of McClure & Shuler law firm in Sardis, Miss. McClure attended The University of Mississippi as a freshman and was a member of Kappa Alpha Order. He went on to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1946. He also served on the USMA Leadership Council.
McClure served three years in Germany as a U.S. combat engineer, then returned home in 1950 and entered the UM School of Law.
McClure served in the state Legislature as senator from 1952-56 and was a member of several special legislative study committees that led to the creation of the state retirement system and a major reorganization of the public school system.
Throughout the years, McClure has served as chair of the Lamar Order and as a member of the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee, the chancellor search committee and the UM Foundation board. He is a member of the Ole Miss Circle Society, Pacesetters, 1848 Society, UMAA Foundation and Chancellor’s Trust. In 1980, McClure was honored as the school’s Law Alumnus of the Year, and he was inducted into The University of Mississippi Hall of Fame in 2007. McClure and his late wife, Angele, have four children—Jimmy McClure III, Justin McClure, Angele McClure Thompson and Susan McClure Mays—and six grandchildren.
Honorable William F. Winter
William F. Winter (LLB 49) was born in Grenada, Miss., and was Mississippi’s 58th governor, serving 1980-84. In 1943, Winter received his undergraduate degree from The University of Mississippi. He then served as an infantry officer in the Philippines during World War II.
Winter returned to Oxford to attend law school and served as editor in chief of the Mississippi Law Journal. While he was still a student in law school, he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1947 and re-elected in 1951 and 1955. From 1950-51, he served as the legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. John Stennis. He was recalled to active military duty to serve in the infantry during the Korean War.
In 1956, Winter conducted his first statewide campaign and was elected state tax collector. He held this position until, upon his recommendation, the office was abolished in 1964. He was then elected Mississippi state treasurer in 1964 and then lieutenant governor in 1972.
As governor, he is best remembered for the Education Reform Act of 1982. Among other things, this act is most famous for establishing kindergarten classes for all Mississippians. In 1989, he held the Jamie L. Whitten Chair of Law and Government at UM Law School and was the Eudora Welty Professor of Southern Studies at Millsaps College.
Winter was also instrumental in the conception and creation of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, which was established at UM in 1999. Though he has received numerous awards, the most recent was the 2008 Profile in Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library for his work advancing education and racial reconciliation.
He resides in Jackson with his wife, the former Elise Varner. They have three daughters—Anne V. Winter, Elise Winter Gillespie and Eleanor E. Winter—and five grandchildren.