"The law is not the place for the artist or the poet…The law is the calling of thinkers." --Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1881

Called out of retirement from his scenic Roane County home to fill a vacancy created with the resignation of Justice Margaret Workman, Justice George Scott, brings a wealth of legal experience to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

One only has to be in his presence a short time to realize that his firmly held opinions are a result of a complex contemplative thought process.

Educated in one-room elementary schools in Roane County, he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps, 1946-49. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1952 from West Virginia University and earned his L.L.B. from WVU College of Law in 1954.

He served as Roane County Prosecuting Attorney from 1956-64 and held various offices in the West Virginia State Bar, including President-Elect in 1972-the same year he was appointed Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit.

He was elected judge of that circuit three times, until his retirement from the bench in 1987. From 1993-99. Justice Scott was Of Counsel with the law firm of Carey, Hill and Scott and active in arbitration and mediation.

His soft-spoken demeanor puts the listener at ease, but make no mistake Justice Scott had definite opinions. His solid look-you-in-the-eye manner is no more apparent than when he is talking about the practice of law.

"The practice of law is the most noble of all professions," he said, "and since we police ourselves, we are obligated to hold ourselves to a higher duty and share responsibility for insuring a higher sense of duty than any other profession."

He believes today's lawyers could take a lesson from the bar that was practicing when he first graduated from law school.

"The bar was much smaller then and the lawyers knew each other better," he said. "We enjoyed a true sense of fellowship and would not have even imagined questioning the word of another lawyer."

"To make open accusations that a fellow lawyer is a liar, which I have personally witnessed in more recent years, is an outrageous breach of professionalism."

Justice Scott believes that the recent erosion of professionalism threatens the profession's ability to police itself.

"The bar needs to get itself in line," he said. "If we don't start doing a better job, we are going to lose the power of self policing."

He believes that the business orientation of the practice of law and the proliferation of lawyers due to relaxed educational standards have led to negative influences on the bar.

"I deplore the fact that there are so many of our lawyers making so much money these days. Exorbitant lawyer fees detract from how the law should be practiced."

Justice Scott explained that the profession of law is a service, and the business orientation prevalent today detracts from a lawyer's real duty-his or her client.

"A lawyer's duty to his or her client is almost higher than that of a guardian to a ward."

Scott is not without opinions as to how the professionalism of lawyers can be enhanced, believing that standards at law schools have been relaxed over the years due to economic demands on those schools.

"Law schools throughout the country are too fee oriented," he explained. "They build these nice buildings, pay for them with the bond monies and tuition, but to do so they have to have warm bodies, so there is not the incentive to maintain the highest of standards."

Scott said that when he was in law school in 1954, one-half to two-thirds of the students who entered law school were flunked out due to poor performance.

"Now it almost seems like a religion that you don't flunk out anybody that starts into law school. You pass the test before you get in."
Scott said that if a higher standard for conveying a law degree can be reinstated and a higher level of professionalism and courtesy were resuscitated, the perception of lawyers in the public's eye would be vastly improved.

"The citizenry believes that there are too many frivolous law suits," he said. "While I don't believe this a major problem in this state, one frivolous law suit is one too many. This problem is probably a result of having too many lawyers with not enough to do, which results in suits without foundation."

The newly-appointed judge also has definite opinions about the courtroom standards explaining that the impact of media attention on the courtroom has been destructive.

"The antics of Judge Judy are deplorable," he said. "I'll admit they may be good showmanship, they make be good theater, but they leave a tragic misrepresentation as to how a judge should behave."

Scott has always opposed cameras in the courtroom believing that the existence of a camera has an effect on everyone, even if they don't realize it.

He also is an ardent advocate of changing the process by which judges are selected.

"Judges owe their duty to the Constitution and the rule of law-not to people, groups of people, political causes or political pressures. Our judges are affected by the pressures of reelection and to their allegiance to those who support them," he said.

"We are never going to have an independent judiciary worthy of that designation with our current system. Non-partisan elections would help, but it won't remove the loyalty to pressure groups."

Scott is in favor of implementing an appointive process, but cautions that it should not be patterned after the federal model.

"Some of the most partisan people in the world are federal judges," he said. "The federal judges are beholden to the ‘big boys' and the state judges are beholden to the ‘little people in large numbers.'"

Rather, Justice Scott favors an appointed process with public involvement.

"The West Virginia Governor's Committee of Judicial Selection, which I chaired, was a group with which I was very much impressed," he said. "We had a wonderful cross section of society-Democrats, Republicans, labor, industry, female, male, minority groups.

"It was not only amazing, but gratifying, how well we all worked together and how uniform our opinions were with respect to the qualifications of the candidates."

Scott believes that this process, which is now advisory in nature, should be formalized through statute, whereby the Governor had to make an appointment from a list of two or three committee-approved candidates.

He also approves requiring newly-appointed judges to run for retention.

"Let the person selected, after serving from two to four years, run for retention, thus allowing the public observe his or her behavior on and off the bench."

Justice Scott is strong in his opinions, but when he delivers them, he makes his audience at ease. He is a social animal, enjoying the company of others and sharing his Roane County hospitality.

Indeed, when I arrived for the interview, he mixed up a special chocolate coffee, allowing me to observe his secret recipe. He proudly points out photos of his grandson and regales his visitor with fishing stories.

"I really miss interplay with people, such as what I experienced on the circuit bench," he said. "I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to visit and joke with the bar and the public and got great satisfaction in interacting with jurors and impressing upon them their importance in the judicial process."

Justice Scott indicated that he has derived tremendous satisfaction in transitioning from retirement to serving on the state's highest court.

"This opportunity has been very pleasant and I have been treated with great courtesy and friendship from every member of this court. I enjoy getting up and coming to work every morning.

"I didn't realize how much I missed the intellectual challenges of serving on the bench until I got here."

At one point of the interview, I asked him if he had an opinion on a particular subject. He replied with his charming smile, "You'll find that one of my problems is that I have an opinion on just about everything."

Contemplative, opinionated, self-assured and rejuvenated by his new berth, Justice George M. Scott is truly a thinker.

About the Author
Ms. Bailey, occasional contributor to The West Virginia Lawyer, provides articles in support of Fund for the Law in the Public Interest at the WVU College of Law.