Clerking
Copyright, Paul C. Cline, 2000

I considered myself lucky to get to clerk for the firm of Stotler, McReynolds and Caplan in Clarksburg, West Virginia, in the summer of 1956. This was the summer between my second and third years of law school at West Virginia University. I was able to get to work for that firm because they represented the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Clarksburg, and my father had been Division Claim Agent for the B&O. In that position he worked closely with the railroad lawyers.

The firm consisted of Robert B. Stotler, Stewart McReynolds, and Howard Caplan. The senior partner in the firm had been Mr. Hoffheimer, who had handled much of the railroad litigation and had died sometime before 1956. Earlier in line had been John W. Davis and his father; they had practiced under the firm name Davis and Davis. John W. Davis was the Democratic nominee for President in 1924 and later Ambassador to the Court of Saint James. He was a renowned constitutional lawyer with an extensive practice before the Supreme Court of the United States while a partner in a New York City firm. Davis, Senior was the son of Caleb Davis, known to antique collectors as the Woodstock, Virginia, maker of fine clocks. These clocks are very much sought-after and valuable at the present time.

Kendell Keeney shared an office with the Stotler firm in the Goff Building. The very long-time legal secretaries were Miss Cost and Miss Barry, who had been with the firm fifty and forty years, respectively, in 1956. One has to marvel at the value of these secretaries in the age of manual typewriters, multiple copies, and the absence of computers and their advantages.

I worked mainly for Mr. McReynolds. He came into the office early in the morning, and I began to come in at about the same time. We would sit and talk about the tasks he had for me and how to do them. We would also talk about Clarksburg and its history, other lawyers, and the law in general. It was a priceless introduction to the law and its people.

Mr. McReynolds had been the West Virginia editor of a major Virginia/West Virginia form book, which set forth various legal documents that were valid in the two states. His practice was largely devoted to real estate matters of individuals and corporations such as coal companies. He apparently was one of those legendary lawyers who seemed to be able to recall title sequences far into the past for particular pieces of land and whole areas of the county. This was an even greater feat in a county in which there was not only surface ownership but also various layers of coal veins and gas leases on the properties.

My major task for the summer was to locate and plat severance deeds. Around the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century mining companies bought or, as it was called, "severed" the underlying coal layers from the surface land holdings. Because of another coal company's intention to buy a large block of these severed interests, it was my job to check the metes and bounds, or perimeters, of these old deeds, place them next to each other, and make a mosaic of the holdings. In platting one used a protractor and ruler to place the degrees and distances of the boundaries on paper with the object to see that they "closed." Closing indicated that the measurements were accurate, at least on paper.

This task required me to go to the deed room of the courthouse, located next door to our office building, copy pertinent parts of the deeds, come back to the office and plat the information. Of course, it was necessary to check the granting clauses, signatures, and other information to see that the grants of coal were effective. All this was done under the supervision of Mr. McReynolds and the watchful eyes of the legal secretaries who typed up the notes I had taken.

One of the usual occupants of the deed room was an older lawyer, Charles Scott. He was the father of a schoolmate of mine and was available for on the spot help that any neophyte needs in the new world of conveyances.

Other members of the Harrison County Bar were very friendly and helpful. The Stathers and Cantrall firm occupied offices on the same floor as the Stotler firm and provided close-by assistance. Cecil Highland, Jr., who taught at the WVU Law School, was a member of a Clarksburg fin-n. Some of the lawyers that I met that summer were Josephine Berry, Charles Johnson, Lyle Jones, Roger Morgan, Ernest Swiger, and Stuart Waters.

Mr. McReynolds also taught me to follow the chain of title to land back to earlier owners with the aim of making certain the sellers of land actually owned all the rights they claimed. One of the rules of real property law was the Rule Against Perpetuities, known to every law student then. This rule concerned the requirement that title to land vest, or become valid, within a certain possible length of time in the future. Black's Law Dictionary defines the rule in this way: "Principle that no interest in property is good unless it must vest, if at all, not later than 21 years, plus period of gestation, after some life or lives in being at time of creation."

I found what I thought was a violation of this rule while I was searching a title to a piece of land. It was then necessary to convince Mr. McReynolds of this violation. He was not about to be easily convinced, and, as can be seen from the definition of the rule, it is not easy to retain one's focus on the meaning and application of the rule for very long. So I would come into his office, make a point or two about my conclusion that the rule was applicable, he would deny with logic my position, I would come back again the next day with more ammunition, he would reject this, until finally he said that he was convinced that I was correct.

This experience, frustrating as it was to me at the time, illustrates the value of an internship in the law. The young person obtains some knowledge of a field of the law, gets to be on the "inside" of the law office with its procedures and personalities, but even more important is permitted to make a point, argue a position, and even sometimes have that position affirmed.

Part of my clerking was performed for Mr. Caplan. Howard Caplan had been. United States District Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia. His brother, Fred, served on the state Supreme Court. Mr. Caplan handled most of the litigation for the firm.

He assigned me research for cases he was preparing. I thought that I was covering important new legal ground that would be important for him in his trial and appeals work. I began to notice tiny check marks in the legal sources. I finally concluded that he had been there already in nearly all the references I was consulting. I did not mention the check marks, and he always had a good word for me when I presented any "helpful" material to him from those jointly-consulted sources.

The firm was generous in its providing me with opportunities to attend cases that might be enlightening to a law student. Mr. Caplan told me that I would benefit from watching Bruce Huff of Parkersburg and Ernest Swiger of Clarksburg try a civil case. Such an experience was worth more than hours of reading how-to books.

Mr. Caplan took me to a sentencing in Federal Court before Judge Harry Watkins. Two young men had robbed a bank in Lost Creek. I observed for the first time the results of an extensive pre-sentencing investigation. I still remember the effect on the young men's families when they were sentenced to prison.

After the clerking was over I still maintained contact with the attorneys. Mr. McReynolds wrote to me When he thought some case or legal point might be of interest to me. He usually included some reference to his alleged "superior" legal education at the University of Virginia Law School.

I went to see Mr. Caplan at his home on Chestnut Street when I visited Clarksburg. He lived there until an advanced age but always recognized me right away and was unfailingly kind and courteous. He often showed me his wall display of photographs of family and prominent individuals with whom he had been acquainted.

Helping in the law office of Stotler, McReynolds and Caplan provided me with 'knowledge of the substance and procedure of the law in the summer of 1956. More than this, it provided the occasion for meeting with the members of the bar and learning about the environment in which the practice of law takes place. This behind the scenes experience may be as important to the aspiring attorney as the more formal legal training,

About the Author
Mr. Cline is a member of the West Virginia State Bar.