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Four North Carolina attorneys were honored Monday, Oct. 24, during the fall 2005 Justice Fund Dedication Ceremony at the N.C. Bar Center in Cary.

The North Carolina Bar Association recognized William C. Coughenour of Salisbury, the late Daniel W. Fouts of Greensboro, Richard S. Jones Jr. of Franklin and Landon H. Roberts of Asheville.

The ceremony took place in the James K. Dorsett Jr. Auditorium.

A Justice Fund is a named endowment that honors those North Carolina lawyers, past and present, whose careers have demonstrated dedication to the pursuit of justice and outstanding service to the profession and the public. One or more contributors may establish a Justice Fund to honor a colleague, family member or friend.

Lawyers designated and honored by the creators of a Justice Fund receive special recognition in the form of a permanent plaque and biographical sketch maintained at the N.C. Bar Center.

The NCBA Foundation Endowment was established in 1987 to enable the foundation to fund programs and activities to better serve the public and the legal profession. As of June 2005, the endowment had awarded grants totaling $2,305,251 for 335 projects.

Daniel W. Fouts
Dan Fouts was born and raised in Burnsville, the son of Dover and Madge Fouts. He was one of three sons of a distinguished lawyer in that small mountain community, and nephew of another distinguished lawyer in nearby Spruce Pine. The life of Dan Fouts was one of exemplary and distinguished service to his family, his faith, his profession, his community and his nation.

Ann Fouts and her family unveil the Dan Fouts Justice Fund plaque.

Fouts was devoted to his family, especially his wife of 48 years, Ann Fisher Fouts, and their three children and four grandchildren: Daniel W. (“Chip”) Fouts, Jr. and his wife, Cindy Sherrill Fouts and their son, Daniel W. Fouts, III; Arlesa Fouts Leopold and her husband, Vincent Leopold and their children, Rose and Daniel Leopold; and Alfred Davis (“Dave”) Fouts and his wife, Catherine Adams Fouts and their son, Handley Reece Fouts.

Fouts attended college and law school at Wake Forest University. In 1958, he received his L.L.B. degree cum laude, which was converted to a J.D. in 1970. He began his legal career as a research assistant for North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Carlisle Higgins.

In 1959, he joined Adams Kleemeier & Hagan. At the time of his death, he was the senior partner of the firm, which had grown from six lawyers to 40-plus lawyers, and was then known as Adams Kleemeier Hagan Hannah & Fouts PLLC. (On Jan. 1, 2004, after Dan’s death, Adams Kleemeier Hagan Hannah & Fouts, PLLC merged with Nexsen Pruet Jacobs & Pollard, LLC and became Nexsen Pruet Adams Kleemeier PLLC.)

Fouts served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, interrupting his college years and spending 16 months in Korea. He remained in the Active U. S. Army Reserve for many years, being ultimately promoted to Brigadier General. When he retired, he was the highest ranking reserve officer in the Judge Advocate General Corps.  

Fouts’ service to the profession was exemplary. He served as president of the 18th Judicial District Bar and the Greensboro Bar Association, and as a member of the N.C. State Bar Council and the North Carolina Bar Association Board of Governors.

He was honored by induction into the NCBA’s General Practice Section Hall of Fame. He was selected as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and was a permanent member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference. He served as chair of the Local Rules Committee of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. He was selected to be included in the “The Best Lawyers in America” publication.

His practice included litigation of every variety.   

Fouts was particularly proud of his service to his alma mater, Wake Forest University. He was a charter member of the Chief Justice Joseph Branch Inn of Court at the School of Law and president of the Inn at the time of his death. He was a member of the Board of Visitors for the School of Law. His favorite fishing trips were with the “Deacon Fishing Bunch” which was composed of classmates from his law school years.    

Fouts served nine years on the Greensboro Housing Commission, three years on the board of Guilford Technical Community College, seven years on the board of Humana Hospital-Greensboro, and two years on the N.C. Veterans Affairs Commission.

He taught Sunday school at West Market Street United Methodist Church and was chair of the administrative board. He chaired and served on numerous committees, including nine years as chair of the Building Committee which successfully undertook and concluded a complete renovation of the Church’s facilities in downtown Greensboro at a cost of some $11 million.

Dan Fouts did all of those things, and many more. But his most lasting contribution to the profession will be that he was a mentor to scores of young lawyers, in his firm and others, imparting to and impressing on them, by precept and example, the best traditions and values of the profession he loved so dearly.

Fouts did that because he had learned the importance of it from his father, the members of his firm who were senior to him and others whom he admired and who influenced him. Many of the lawyers who learned from Fouts what it means, and what is required, to be a good lawyer, have themselves now become mentors, teaching the same traditions and values to succeeding generations.

Dan Fouts’ living legacy will be the many people he inspired.

Landon Haynes Roberts
Landon Robert, senior member of the Asheville law firm of Roberts & Stevens, P.A., was born in 1921 and raised in Madison County. He attended Mars Hill College one year, then transferred to the University of North Carolina. He completed one year of law school, and graduated with a B.A. degree in 1942.

Landon Roberts, flanked by secretary Doris Oates, right, and his wife, Jean, listens as Executive Director Allan Head discusses Justice Funds.

Having enlisted in the U.S. Navy prior to graduation, he entered Midshipman’s School in New York, and was commissioned an ensign in the Naval Reserve on his 21^st birthday. He became “Mr. Roberts,” serving four years as a line officer on patrol craft in the Pacific. He returned to law school at the University of North Carolina in 1946, receiving his J.D. degree in 1948.

Roberts began his legal career as an associate with the firm of Smathers & Meekins in Asheville, practicing insurance defense law, and later became a partner in the firm, the successor firms of Meekins, Packer & Roberts and Meekins & Roberts.

Upon Meekins’ death, Roberts practiced as a sole practitioner until joined by Max O. Cogburn, and later others. The practice grew, and in 1986 the firm of Roberts, Cogburn, McClure & Williams merged with Redmond, Stevens, Loftin & Currie, to become the present firm.

About Landon Roberts, one colleague has commented that, “his entire legacy is too large to be written in a small space.”

His achievements are indeed many, including contributions to his profession as president of the Buncombe County Bar Association; as president of the 28^th Judicial District Bar; member of the Board of Governors of the North Carolina Bar Association and as inductee into the NCBA General Practice Hall of Fame.

He was also a charter member of the N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He was also a member of the N.C. Board of Law Examiners, as well as a permanent member of the Federal Judicial Conference for the 4^th Circuit.

As a recognized community leader, Roberts has served on the Vestry of All Souls Episcopal Church in Biltmore and presently attends Trinity Episcopal Church in Asheville. He is a trustee on the board of St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation and serves as precinct chair for the 17^th Precinct in Asheville. He has served as president of the Asheville Civitan Club and as president and member of the Zeb Vance Debating Society.

Roberts counsels that law school graduates should “make a connection with some lawyer or firm where they can continue their education and develop as a practicing attorney because they are just beginning to learn law.” He has been known to assign new attorneys to teach courses held by the Legal Secretaries Association, “because it is a real eye-opener for them.” He also counsels lawyers “to enjoy the excitement of trial work and be interested in the result of your work.”

Roberts is married to the former Jean Rankin. They have two children, Ann Roberts Hooe and Kate Roberts Henry. A son, Landon Haynes Roberts, Jr., was killed in action while serving in the U.S. Navy.

William C. “Bill” Coughenour Jr.
Bill Coughenour born July 17, 1918, is an example of a fine North Carolina general practice lawyer, athlete, law student, Navy officer, advocate, investor, tennis champion, father, master bridge player and stoic hell-raiser.

Unveiling the Coughenour plaque, from left, are daughter Kelly, granddaughter K.C. and son-in-law Michael McCrann.

Coughenour is an outstanding member of the “Greatest Generation.” When cited for having practiced law in Salisbury for fifty years by the N.C. State Bar, Coughenour commented that it could not be because “I have not yet turned 50 years of age.”

Known for his athleticism as a young man in Salisbury and in Chapel Hill, he graduated from the University of North Carolina, where he lettered in football, in 1938 and the UNC School of Law in 1940.

Coughenour joined his peers and led them as an officer in the Navy where he spent five years on active duty in the Pacific Theater as the captain of a sub-chaser. He participated in the invasions of Kevayalein, Saipan and Tunisia. All his reported remembrances of this period are filled with his characteristic dry humor and irony.

Ever loyal to traditional values, Coughenour returned after the war to practice law in Salisbury with his father, William Chambers “Cham” Coughenour. There he married Doris Kelly and helped raise two daughters, Doris Price Deal and Lucy Kelly Coughenour McCrann.   

Coughenour stepped off his sub-chaser and into the courtroom. His first case upon receiving his law license involved the defense of a man charged with murder. He recollects that the man was found guilty and blamed his lawyer.

Coughenour began the practice of law with his father and seemed to duplicate the senior Coughenour’s civic and political success.

During his years as a Salisbury attorney, Bill Coughenour served in every major post involving fund raising and Democratic politics. He also served his church as a young man becoming junior and then senior warden of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

While participating in community affairs, Coughenour became the perennial singles’ tennis champion for Salisbury and Rowan County, at one point holding the singles title for 10 consecutive years; he denies that his nickname in Salisbury is “Iron.” In later years Bill established an endowed scholarship at Catawba College to be presented annually to an able student who participates in the tennis program.

During his long legal career, Coughenour became a master bridge player as well as an astute investor. These pursuits did not detract from his law practice. Bill took cases as they came. In the 1990’s when a woman was wrongly denied her insurance coverage, he took the case to the N.C. Supreme Court. The case was decided in the woman's favor and made new law in the area of fire insurance coverage.

These days, this member of the greatest generation is still enjoying life on the slightly slower side in Pinehurst. His wit still charms his visits with friends, while he enjoys Atlanta Braves baseball, UNC football and the occasional dance to tunes on the Lawrence Welk Show.     

Richard S. “Dick” Jones Jr.
Dick Jones was born in Asheville in May 1934, the son of Lois Halman Jones and Richard Sloan Jones Sr. of Franklin. He graduated from Davidson College, served in the U. S. Army, and later received his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1961.

Dick and Melissa Jones share his Justice Fund unveiling with grandchildren Lyle and Kate Jones.

After graduating from UNC Law School, he returned to Franklin to join Jones & Jones, the firm started by his grandfather, Judge George Andrew Jones, in 1878.

The firm, now known as Jones, Key, Melvin & Patton, P.A., has evolved over the last 125 years into one of the leading firms in western North Carolina. Under his leadership, not only has the law practice attained longevity unmatched in that part of the state, but he has worked tirelessly to assure that the vision of his forefathers will continue.

Counseling clients, whether rich or poor, government or private, individual or corporate, the firm has served the needs of the people of Macon County since its inception and will continue into the 21^st century by the efforts of Dick Jones and his son, Fred H. Jones, a fourth-generation Jones family lawyer.

Having learned from his father that the practice of law is an honorable profession that calls its members to serve, Jones has shown a strength of character, a tenacious spirit and a combination of legal skills earning the respect and admiration of his peers. He has served as an invaluable mentor to a number of younger attorneys over the years and he has passed on to them his great example of professionalism, integrity, fairness and genuine concern for people.

From his service for 12 years as a member and then chair of the N.C. Board of Law Examiners, to his service as “President for Life” of the Macon County Bar, his legal career has been one of diligence and excellence. Jones continues to serve the bar through his membership in the 30^th Judicial District Bar Association, the North Carolina Bar Association where he served as vice president, the N.C. State Bar, the American Bar Association, the N.C. Academy of Trial lawyers and the North Carolina College of Advocacy.

A deep love of his community and its people has been evident in his many avenues of service. From his leadership in the First United Methodist Church, his activities in the Franklin Area Chamber of Commerce, the Franklin Jaycees, the Franklin Rotary Club, the Franklin Cemetery Association, the Angel Community Hospital Board of Trustees, and his service on the Western Carolina University Board of Trustees and the WCU Foundation Board, his compassion and sense of responsibility have been evident.

During his long tenure on the board of directors of The Bank of Franklin, the bank has grown from a small hometown bank founded by his grandfather, Judge George Jones, to become one of the major banking institutions of this country, Wachovia Bank & Trust Co.

His service has also played an integral part in the growth of the local Macon Savings Bank, founded by his father and his uncle, which has progressed from a small local lending operation into a significant regional banking organization.

Significantly, Jones has served as a county attorney for Macon County for over 35 years, earning the trust and confidence of both Democratic and Republican administrations. He has been instrumental in counseling the various elected boards as Macon County has evolved from a small rural county into a major economic hub for Western North Carolina.

In addition to his representation of Macon County, Macon Savings Bank and various country clubs in the area, Jones has established a reputation as a preeminent real property attorney handling matters ranging from county purchases and condemnations, to residential and commercial closings to his bread and butter – the land lawsuit.

Rarely is anyone, let alone an attorney, as happy as Dick Jones when “walking the lines” of mountain property.

Through years of distinguished service to his clients, his community and his colleagues, Jones has established himself as a “lawyer’s lawyer” and serves as an example of the professional characteristics an attorney should exhibit.

In June 1999, he was honored by his peers through his induction into the NCBA General Practice Hall of Fame.

Dick Jones and his wife, Melissa, live in Franklin. Their family consists of Richard Sloan Jones III, Laura Jones Caffrey, her husband Brian Caffrey and their children Keelin and Conor, and Fred Howell Jones, his wife, Jennifer Jones and their children Lyle and Kate.