Morgantown attorney honored with prestigious Caplan Award

Aug. 19—Throughout his legal career, Morgantown attorney Jacques Williams of Hamstead, Williams, Meek, and Shook law offices, had a desire to serve the local community. And while he knew he did some good over the years, he never dreamed he would eventually be awarded one of the highest honors of the West Virginia legal community.

Williams was chosen as this year's recipient of the prestigious Caplan Award, the West Virginia Association for Justice's (WVAJ) highest honor named for former Justice Fred Caplan, who served on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals from 1962 — 80.

The award is presented annually by the WVAJ to a West Virginian involved in the justice community who has displayed outstanding public service to the state, its residents and the civil justice system.

Williams' award follows the late West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw, who was honored in 2022, and 2021's recipient, former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Margaret Workman.

A lifelong Morgantown resident, Williams began law school at West Virginia University in 1975 and graduated in 1978. After 44 years of legal service to the Morgantown community, he retired last year.

"I was fortunate enough to stay in my hometown and practice in my hometown, " he said. "Whatever I've accomplished through the help of many other people along the way was done in my hometown."

Williams said he has always seen the legal profession as being a service profession.

"We're there to help people and I've always thought it was important beyond just the day-to-day help that we do for people addressing their legal needs, that we give back to the community in several ways."

In his decades-long legal career, Williams has certainly accomplished his goal of giving back to not only the legal community, but Morgantown, Monongalia County and West Virginia residents as a whole.

Through the years, Williams has held positions on the Young Lawyers Board of Directors, the Board of Directors of WVAJ, and President of the Monongalia County Bar Association and has worked with various community service organizations.

Of all the work he has done, Williams said there are three programs spearheaded by his office that he is most proud of.

For seven to eight years, the then Hamstead, Williams, and Shook, were able to sponsor a community outreach program where they selected around 15 to 20 local organizations that were helping people in the community and donated 10 % of proceeds from the firm's personal injury cases.

The firm also celebrated the annual Law Day on May 1 by setting aside the entire day to offer free legal advice to members of the community who may have otherwise been intimidated by the potential cost of an attorney — a service they offered every year for 15 to 20 years, Williams said.

In the 1990s, Williams said he was greatly affected by a case he had involving three young children who died in a car accident because they were unrestrained in the vehicle.

"It was appalling to me because the adult driver of the vehicle had very little, if any, injuries, but the children died, " he said.

Wanting to prevent anything like it from happening again, Williams set out to come up with a program to get free car seats to those who couldn't afford them. For the next 10 to 15 years, Hamstead, Williams, and Shook sponsored a program called "Buckle Your Baby for Life " which over the years distributed thousands of car seats to area parents in need.

The name behind the program was two-fold, he said. One aspect was to buckle up your baby so their lives are secured and to educate and teach parents and caretakers. The program also set out to instill good habits at an early age so children would be used to buckling up — that they would "buckle up for life."

In addition to giving back, Williams did his best to make himself available to young law students eager for some experience.

"I've tried to educate people along the way by giving mentoring opportunities to law students to come work in our office, so they'd get an inside look as to what the legal profession is like at least in one aspect of practice, " he said.

Williams' partners, Alex Shook and Andrew Meek, who both noted they were hired and mentored by him, said they were not surprised he was being recognized for his work in the community and that his philanthropic spirit has always resonated through the firm.

"He kind of rubbed off on all of us in that we try to stay active in the community and with the Children's Hospital and other organizations, " Shook said. "He's been a great mentor, great friend and a good person to practice law with and run a fairly successful business. And he still had time to be a great father and raise three great children while being involved in other philanthropic activities."

Meek said the fact that Williams will be in the company of previous recipients including the two previously honored state supreme court justices, "resonated with his caliber and commitment to justice."

"His compassion, intelligence, and relentless pursuit of the truth have left an indelible mark on our profession, and his legacy will continue to be a guiding light for generations of lawyers to come, " he said.

The partners said they admired Williams' willingness to take cases to trial, something not very common on the civil side of law.

"I bet there's not but a handful of lawyers in the state of West Virginia that have as many trials to verdict that Jacques did when he retired, " Shook said. "He was a very potent trial lawyer and a great person to learn from in that regard."

"His skill set is not confined merely to paperwork and legal analysis, " Meek said. "He possesses a rare gift of oral advocacy that I can honestly describe as unparalleled in my professional experience.

"I always admired his ability to speak in front of a jury, " he said. "The eloquence and passion with which he has argued cases have not only led to countless victories, but also inspired those around him, including myself, to strive for excellence."

Jacque's son, West Virginia State Delegate John Williams, said seeing his father receive the award before so many of his peers was a great experience for him and their entire family.

"Growing up I would see how hard he worked, and I knew generally that he was helping people, but I didn't realize until I got older that he was meeting people where they were at — and that was often in one of the most challenging, scariest times of their lives, " John said. "And he was there to help them.

"It's the type of job I believe my dad was driven to by a desire to help people and to make an impact for those people around him, " he said. "My dad is an incredibly humble guy — he just wants to help people. And in the spirit of being an advocate in the legal system, I think that is what the Caplan Award espouses for its recipients, and I think my dad really exemplifies that."

John said he believed a lot of his father's drive to help people goes back to his faith, which he said was really important to him. And though he is not practicing law anymore, he has taken up other causes that he will be helping in the community for the foreseeable future.

"I'm just really proud of my dad, " he said. "And if my son thinks half as much of me as I think of my dad then I'll be a lucky man."

Williams said when he found out he was chosen for the award he felt a great sense of surprise and also humility to see that he'd been selected.

"It's something when you look back on 44 years of practice and think — gee, I thought I was doing my best and I'm glad that it's been recognized as such, but certainly I am far from unique in terms of lawyers wanting to help their community and help the clients that come to them."

"It's very humbling, but it makes you feel good that some of what you did was noticed, " he said.

Williams said that while he may be the recipient of the award, the work really came at the hands of the support system of family, friends, and colleagues he always had behind him.

The Caplan Award was presented to Williams at the WVAJ in Charleston in June, but local friends and colleagues gathered Saturday evening for a banquet in his honor to celebrate not only the award, but his retirement as well.

"As his partner, I can attest to the profound impact he has had on our practice, our clients, and on me personally, " Meek said. "His retirement is a significant moment in our field, and I can only express my deepest gratitude and admiration for his years of service — thank you."