On Bill Poff

I read in today's Roanoke paper of the passing of William B. Poff, the distinguished lawyer from Roanoke. I had only a few professional dealings with him, but he knew who I was (he knew a lot of things), and he was a big friend of my partner down the hall, Lucas Hobbs, one of his many proteges.

Mr. Poff was interesting to me because my grandmother's maiden name was Poff, and so I tried to figure out if we were related. My grandmother denied that there was any connection, and so did he, and they both claimed that we were no kin to Justice and Congressman Richard Poff, either. Even so, Bill Poff the lawyer once represented by mom's uncle Bill Poff.

Bill Poff was also interesting to me because the judicial nomination that he did not get is the one that went to Judge Williams, my old employer. The ebb and flow of that judicial nomination was an extraordinary process of which many tales have been told. It was an unlikely way for Mr. Poff to make the history books, as the second of two nominees to the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia who were not confirmed by the U.S. Senate.