Doing Things 'the Right Way'

• Citation: Vol. 19 No. 1 Pg. 0040
• Publication year: 2013
• Pages: 0040
• Year: 2013

Doing Things 'The Right Way' No. Vol. 19 No. 1 Pg. 40 Georgia Bar Journal August, 2013

GBJ Feature

Doing Things ‘The Right Way’

By Linton Johnson

When Charles L. "Buck" Ruffin graduated from Vidalia High School and was preparing to further his education at Auburn University, he planned to become either an architect or a lawyer, "and I really didn't know which."

At Auburn, though, Ruffin took advantage of an opportunity that wound up having a profound impact on his choice of professions and was the first of many experiences that shaped the career of the 51st president of the State Bar of Georgia.

Under Auburn's cooperative education program, Ruffin was offered and accepted an internship in the Washington, D.C., office of U.S. Rep. Ben B. Blackburn. The year was 1973, and the nation's capital was riveted on the televised hearings of a special Senate committee investigating the Watergate scandal.

"I remember listening to those hearings when (White House assistant) Alexander Butterfield revealed the secret taping system," Ruffin recalled. "A lawyer for the committee asked him, "˜Do you mean to tell me that every conversation the president has is taped?' I just remember that as being such a bombshell."

The rest, of course, is history—some of which Ruffin was able to witness first-hand. Still working in Blackburn's office in January 1974, Ruffin was on the House floor when President Richard M. Nixon entered to deliver what would be his final State of the Union address to Congress.

Capitol security wasn't as tight then as it is today. "Mr. Blackburn said, "˜Buck, go over there and stand by the door,'" Ruffin recalled. "So I stood over there and watched Richard Nixon's final State of the Union message live and in person."

He worked on Blackburn's re-election campaign in 1974, arguably the high-water mark for anti-incumbent sentiment in U.S. political history. Blackburn (who died June 27, 2013, at age 86) was unseated by Elliott H. Levitas in that election, but his background in the legal profession had an influence on Ruffin, as did Ruffin's interaction with fellow campaign committee members who were attorneys, including Wendell K. Willard, now chairman of the Georgia House Judiciary Committee and the 2013 recipient of the State Bar's Distinguished Service Award; Gary R. Smith, a longtime professor at Emory Law School; and L. Jack Swertfeger Jr., a well-respected real estate attorney and former State Bar Executive Committee member.

After his time in Washington, Ruffin said, "in all likelihood, I wanted to be a lawyer." His front-row vantage point during the Watergate era taught him "there's a right way and a wrong way to do anything. It made me want to do things in the right way. If I was going to be a lawyer, I wanted to be an ethical lawyer."

It would turn out to be only the first of many learning experiences that paved the way for a successful legal career.

Ruffin had no close relatives who were lawyers, but a number of friends of the family who were. During his Christmas holidays in December 1975, Ruffin worked with Duncan Graham and Thomas B. Wells at the Graham & Wells law firm in Vidalia. "Tom let me hang around with him during the day; I went with him to court, and he and Mr. Graham let me sit in on meetings with clients," he said. "It was the first time I had been around a law office." That relationship's circle was completed on June 22 of this year when Wells, now a U.S. Tax Court judge, administered the oath of office and installed Ruffin as State Bar president during the Annual Meeting at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

While completing a business administration degree in economics at Auburn, Ruffin was elected president of the student body. That personal taste of politics and leadership, he said, was a "fascinating experience" that included being able to serve as an...