Yankee Justice
| Publication year | 2005 |
| Citation | Vol. 2005 No. 12 |
December 2005b - #7. YANKEE JUSTICE
The following profile of Hilton Wick is the fifteenth in a series published in the Journal under the general title of "Yankee Justice." The profiles are based on thirty-eight interviews of members of the bench and bar conducted by freelance writer and oral historian Virginia Downs in 1978 and 1979. The project was proposed at a meeting of an ad hoc committee of the Vermont Bench and Bar in April of 1978 to tie in with planned bicentennial celebrations of the state's legal beginnings in 1779. It was in that year that Stephen Bradley and Noah Smith were sworn in as Vermont's first official lawyers. The profiles include biographical material and anecdotes from the interviewees' legal activities.
Hilton Wick grew up in the western Pennsylvania town of Scottsdale, forty miles south of Pittsburgh. He went to high school there and in 1938 entered Maryville College in eastern Tennessee. In March of 1942, he volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was assigned to bombardier school and, after completing training by January of 1943, was commissioned a second lieutenant and transferred to gunnery school, then to Hamilton Field near San Francisco to be flown to the Thirteenth Air Force in the New Hebrides in the South Pacific. The base from which he generally flew was Guadalcanal. After flying forty-two combat and thirty search missions, he came home In January, 1944. After his promotion to captain, he was transferred to Childress, Texas, to teach air navigation to cadets. After the war in Europe ended, he was discharged in June of 1945, having earned the Air Medal plus six Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
He recalls his earliest interest in going to law school was while he was a junior in high school and became involved in debate, political science, and public affairs. While overseas he wrote Harvard Law School advising them he wished to go there after he got out of the service. Professor Warren Seavey replied saying he was the type of student Harvard Law School wanted, so he would be admitted when he submitted his formal application.
He and Barbara Shaw, a graduate of Katherine Gibbs, were married in 1946 after his first year of law school. He completed law school in January of 1948. He had opportunities to join Bingham, Dana and Gould in Boston, return to the Pittsburgh area, or clerk with A. Pearley Feen, Esq., in Burlington. He chose the third option, and the Wicks moved in February of 1948. His recollection is that when he reported for his clerkship, Feen had forgotten that he was coming but welcomed him. He spent most of his time reading Vermont cases and reviewing old law exams and became active with some clients. He took his bar exam that September and was admitted on October 8. He had the choice of staying on with Feen at $25 a week, but "I said to myself and to Barbara, I thought I might be able to earn $25 so I opened my office in October, 1948, in downtown Burlington."
He practiced law full-time from the fall of 1948 until July 1, 1969, also teaching business law at UVM for an hour each morning six days a week from 1949 through June of 1964. He first became associated with banking when he was elected a director of the Chittenden Trust Company in 1961, then began his career in banking in 1969.
"An older attorney I got to know was Edwin Lawrence of Rutland. The firm was Lawrence and O'Brien, a good firm. Harold was a trial attorney and Edwin was primarily an office attorney. Edwin was General Counsel for the Rutland Railroad. There was a suit against the railroad and another defendant whom I represented. Edwin brought Joe McNamara in to assist him at the trial. Edwin was big in stature, a courtly gentleman, and generally serious. We were attending a pretrial conference. Edwin had prepared law memos and various legal documents he thought necessary for the trial. Joe reviewed them with Edwin, me, the opposing attorney, and the judge. When we finished the review, Joe said to Edwin in a loud whisper that all of us could hear: 'Edwin, you forgot the most important document.'
"Edwin replied in an excited voice: 'What's that, Joe?'
"And Joe said: 'The motion to set aside the verdict that is certain to be returned against us.' We all, except Edwin, roared with laughter. Edwin did not know what to say. Joe was only kidding, but his remark shook up Edwin."
...
To continue reading
Request your trial