Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 09.pdf/384

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Some Kentucky Lawyers of the Past and Present. was for some time a member of the Newport bar. He was attorney general of the United States under Andrew Johnson, and aided in the defense of President Johnson, before the United States Senate, for impeachment, in 1868. Edwin Waller Hawkins, the Nestor of the present Campbell County bar, came to the bar more than half a century ago, and has been in active prac tice ever since. He is now eighty-two years old, and a mem ber of his bar says : "Long may he be spared; honest has been his practice, pure his life." He ' was mayor of New port before the wan and has always been considered the best authority on land law in his section of the State. Thomas P. Carothers is a fine lawyer and genial gentleman. He was city solicitor for two terms. He has been engaged in some of the most JOHN G. important cases in the county, and is for midable before a jury. He is a leading Democrat, and has held responsible positions on the executive committees of his party. COVINGTON.

Kenton County is one of the smallest in the State, but has had many prominent and talented lawyers. Judge James Pryor was a splendid lawyer, a learned judge, and a gentleman of the old school. He was a circuit judge for some years, and a professor in the Louisville Law School. His grandson, James Pryor Tarvin,

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is a leading lawyer at the present Covington bar. He was his grandfather's partner dur ing the last years of his life. He is a lawyer of unexceptional ability, and is frequently chosen as special judge. He is a close reasoner and a fine speaker, considered " a power on the stump, and a dangerous op ponent in debate." He is a leader among the Democrats of his district, was chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of Kenton County for several years, and president of the Jeffer son Club, the largest Democratic club in the State. It is the proud boast of Covington that she has given to the nation one of its fore most men, John G. Carlisle, late secre tary of the treasury. Mr. Carlisle's style as a lawyer is simple, plain, direct, distinct, and his arguments are clear, forcible, logical and convinc ing. He possesses great power in ex CARLISLE. plaining general prin ciples of law and is one of the ablest lawyers in the United States. He is said to have been one of the finest speakers Congress has ever had, and, although a devoted Democrat, he was so just that at the close of the Forty-ninth Con gress, the Republican members presented him with a splendid silver service, as a token of their respect for him. John William Menzies began the practice of law in Covington in 1841. It is men tioned as a curious fact that every member of the Kenton County bar of 1841 was at some time a member of the General As