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IN MEMORIAM
ALBERT PEARSON JONES
Albert Pearson Jones, Joseph C. Hutcheson Professor
Emeritus in Law, died in Houston, Texas, on September 9, 1992. He is
survived by his two sons, Dan Pearson Jones and Lewis Avery Jones, and
four grandchildren.
Albert Pearson Jones was born in Dallas, Texas,
on July 19, 1907. He attended public schools in Dallas and graduated
from Bryan Street High School in January of 1924. He spent one semester
at Southern Methodist University in the Spring of 1924. The next Fall
he went to Austin and enrolled in the University of Texas. He attended
undergraduate school at the University of Texas through December of
1926 and graduate school through August of 1927 receiving both his Bachelor
of Arts degree and his Masters of Science degree in Economics. He was
a member of Phi Beta Kappa. The following Fall he entered law school
at the University of Texas where he continued to excel. He became an
Associate Editor and, then, Editor-in-Chief of the Texas Law Review.
For his academic achievements, Albert Jones was made a Chancellor of
the Law School, indicating one of the highest grade point averages,
and a member of the national academic honorary society, the Order of
the Coif. He was also a member of Phi Delta Phi fraternity and the Friar
Society. Albert Pearson Jones received his Bachelor of Laws in June
of 1930.
Upon graduation, he began practice with the firm
of Baker, Botts, Andrews and Wharton in Houston. He remained there until
1943 when he and Shirley Helm formed their own firm: Helm and Jones.
In this new firm Albert Jones's ability as a trial lawyer began to shine
brightly. He was the first Texas lawyer to be elected a fellow in the
American College of Trial Lawyers. He served on numerous committees
and bar groups. He was named to serve on the Supreme Court of Texas
Advisory Committee in 1951 and continued to serve on that committee
as long as he was able – into the 1980's. In December of 1979 (after
retiring from his law teaching career) he wrote a letter to then Dean
John Sutton apologizing for not being able to attend an alumni meeting
in Houston. He stated in that letter:
I have been on the Supreme Court Advisory Committee
since 1951 and I have never missed or been late for any meeting.
I do not want to spoil my record at this late date.
Albert Jones became a legend in his own time as
a plaintiff's personal injury trial lawyer before that group became
as famous or infamous as it has now become. It is reputed that when
he left the active practice of law in 1962 to join the faculty of his
alma mater, several defense law firms put him on a retainer basis to
prevent any plaintiff's firm from obtaining his services in a workers'
compensation case.
During his illustrious career Albert Pearson Jones
was on the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas and served as
its president in 1950-51. He was admitted to practice in the State of
Texas and before the United States District Courts for the Southern,
Eastern and Western Districts of Texas, the United States Court of Appeals
for the 5th Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
After 32 years of extraordinary success as a trial
lawyer he decided to retire from the active practice and return to the
academic halls to teach law. Apparently several schools were interested
in acquiring him. In a letter from then Dean Page Keeton to then Vice
President of the University of Texas, Norman Hackerman, Dean Keeton
wrote:
I am enclosing herewith biographical information
about Albert Jones, and moreover, I am sending to him a biographical
data sheet as a basis for sending through a formal recommendation
at an early date. It will be noted that he is 54 years of age, and
normally we would not employ a person at this age. However, he is
one of the outstanding trial lawyers of Texas, was certainly the
outstanding person in his class of 1930, having graduated with Highest
Honors, and having been Editor-in-Chief of the Texas Law Review
at this time. He is a legal scholar as well as one of the foremost
trial lawyers in Texas. There are several members of the Board of
Regents who will know him well, and undoubtedly they will be interested
in knowing why he has indicated to us a desire to be on the Law
Faculty.
He came to me some eight months ago indicating that
he intended to discontinue the practice, and expected to teach at
one of the law schools, and that he preferred to go first-class
here at this Law School. I happen to know that both Baylor and the
University of Houston, which is likely to have a state-supported
law school shortly, have sought his services, and I feel that it
would be a great mistake for us not to take advantage of the opportunity
that we have to secure him here. In fact, I suspect that we would
be criticized for not taking advantage of it.
In 1962 Albert Jones became Professor Jones at the
University of Texas School of Law. Although he received the second highest
salary at the law school: $15,000 (the highest was $16,000), Professor
Jones also accepted an almost 90% reduction in his previous earnings
to begin his teaching career.
After one year of teaching, Professor Jones was
loaned by Dean Keeton to the new Attorney General of Texas, Waggoner
Carr, to help set up his administration. He retained the position as
First Assistant Attorney General for one year.
Professor Jones was the first person named to the
Joseph C. Hutcheson Professorship in Law. Along with his colleagues,
Professors Gus Hodges and Frank Elliot, he co-authored two classic casebooks
in Texas Procedure. They were G. HODGES, A. JONES, and F. ELLIOTT, TEXAS
TRIAL AND APPELLATE PROCEDURE and G. HODGES, A. JONES, and F. ELLIOTT,
TEXAS JUDICIAL PROCESS PRIOR TO TRIAL. These were the standard casebooks
on Texas Procedure for many years. Professor Jones was known for his
insistence on preparation – for class as well as for trial –
for his technical expertise, and for a warm and generous personality,
but he was also recognized as a tough grader. His students deeply respected
and admired this scholarly professor with so many years of real trial
experience. Although his students publicly referred to him as "Mr. Jones"
(at this time most professors at the Law School did not use the title
"Professor"), he was affectionately called "Pappy Jones" in private.
One of his former students remarked:
We looked upon him as old-fashioned, a courtly gentleman.
He was a great teacher with tremendous presence. The general opinion
prevails that he was one of the best law professors at Texas. Mr.
Jones was a warm, generous person.
One quality which Professor Jones possessed in abundance,
but did not advertise, was his generosity. For many years he lectured
in bar review courses. He contributed his pay for these lectures to
the Law School Foundation (then the Keeton Fund) and did the same with
his royalties for the casebooks he co-authored. At his retirement he
created the Albert Jones Scholarship Fund (contributing $50,000) to
provide financial assistance based on need to members of the BOA (Board
of Advocates). This law school student organization sponsors a variety
of competitions including appellate moot court, mock trial, and client
counseling both within the University of Texas School of Law and outside
against other law schools.
Professor Jones retired (because of the then-existing
mandatory provision) in 1977. That year the law school held Law Week
in his honor. He was named the Joseph C. Hutcheson Professor Emeritus.
When asked what it took to be a good lawyer, Professor Jones replied:
Intelligence, of course, is the basic commodity,
but it goes beyond that. I would say desire to work, prepare, to
do legal research. Without that knowledge and ability to prepare
and research, a lawyer may well find himself in trouble.
Professor Jones was delighted to see more and more
bright, young women attending law school near the end of his teaching
career. He was saddened by one thing, however, and stated:
What the Texas Law School needs is more black students.
We simply don't have enough blacks.
Professor Emeritus Jones returned to Houston and
became counsel to the firm of Helm, Pletcher, Hogan and Burrow. He continued
to be active, especially in bar related activities such as the Supreme
Court Advisory Committee. In 1978 he was named as a distinguished alumnus
of the University of Texas School of Law.
Albert Jones was not, however, just a great trial
lawyer and outstanding law professor. He was a family man. He was married
for 53 years to Annette Lewis of Houston. She died on March 22, 1990.
Albert and Annette had two sons, Dan Pearson Jones and Lewis Avery Jones,
and four grandchildren. He was very active in the Episcopal Church.
He had been a vestry man, a junior, and a senior warden of Christ Church
Cathedral in Houston. He was trustee of numerous Episcopal trusts in
Austin and active in St. David's Episcopal Church. After his death on
September 9, 1992, Albert Pearson Jones, attorney, scholar, teacher,
benefactor, husband, father, and devoted Christian was buried at Forest
Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston following services at St. David's
Episcopal Church in Austin.
Albert Pearson Jones is sorely missed by those who
were his colleagues, his students, his clients, his family, and his
friends. Those who knew him well will never forget his warm greeting
and his twinkle.
<signed>
Robert M. Berdahl,
President
The University of Texas at Austin
<signed>
H. Paul Kelley, Secretary
The General Faculty
This Memorial Resolution was prepared by a special committee
consisting of Professors J. Patrick Hazel (Chair), Charles Alan Wright,
and Lino A. Graglia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE PUBLISHED WRITINGS
OF
ALBERT PEARSON JONES
Books
G. HODGES, A. JONES, and F. ELLIOTT, TEXAS TRIAL
AND APPELLATE PROCEDURE (2nd Edition, West 1974)
G. HODGES, A. JONES, and F. ELLIOTT, TEXAS JUDICIAL
PROCESS PRIOR TO TRIAL (2nd Edition, West 1977)
Articles
Fright, 1947 INS. L. J. 99 (1947)
Special Issue Submission, 16 TEX. B. J. 285
(1953)
Some Recent Developments in Tort Litigation,
9 BAYLOR L. REV. 1 (1957)
Peremptory Challenges – Should Rule 233
Be Changed?, 45 TEX. L. REV. 80 (1966)
Tribute to George Stumberg on Behalf of the Bar,
43 TEX. L. REV. 264 (1965)
Book Reviews
French, P.H., The Automobile Compensation Plan,
12 TEX. L. REV. 380 (1934)
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