Mentor Suzanne Richards Bequeaths $1 Million

The late Suzanne V. Richards mentored many DC lawyers–particularly if they had attended GW Law as she did–including trust and estates attorney William E. Davis.

“She had always wanted to give GW Law a substantial bequest, but in talking with her it came out that she didn’t have a will,” Davis related. “I said, ‘Suzanne, you can’t die without a will; you’re a trust and estates attorney!’”

Davis helped plan her estate and was named executor; Suzanne died at the age of 86 last December, leaving $1 million to endow the Suzanne V. Richards Scholarship for the George Washington University Law School. The law school plans to match the endowment income, which should make the scholarship substantial, Davis said. It will be awarded to entering students and continue through their tenure.

Suzanne, BA ’48, JD ’57, LLM ’59, graduated from high school in South Carolina at the age of 15 and moved to DC to become a government clerk. She graduated magna cum laude from GWU while working full-time and was one of the few women in her law school class, earning the highest grade point average.

“She was there during the Truman administration,” Davis said, “and she recalled how students would sit out in front of the school buildings and Harry Truman would walk down the sidewalk and greet them.”

Suzanne initially worked for the United Mine Workers and then opened a solo practice.

“She didn‘t turn away any clients, so she took all kinds of cases,” Davis said. “But her work became more concentrated in the practice of family law.”

For several years she chaired the family law section steering committee of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, and she taught continuing legal education courses on family law for the bar. In 1977 she was named Woman Lawyer of the Year by the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia, and the following year became president of that organization. She also began mentoring younger attorneys.

“She was very eager to give back to the community and to lawyers,” Davis said. “She would become acquainted with various attorneys around town and direct and guide them into leadership roles. The women lawyers especially she took under her wing. Many women in this town gained their leadership positions because of Suzanne’s support of them and interest in them.”

In 1989 Suzanne was elected the first woman president of the DC bar, and in 2002 she was named its Lawyer of the Year at the age of 75, still active in her practice.

“She was a feminist in a somewhat different manner,” Davis said. “She was always a very gracious lady, always immaculately dressed, and never lost her Southern drawl. But she was very influential, a leader of our profession.”<

As she aged, Suzanne became more interested in helping clients with trusts and estates and became an expert in that field as well. She never married or had children and is survived by a niece and nephews. A special memorial service for her was held at GW Law on May 15.

“She was very committed to the law school,” Davis said. “She loved it and recognized it made it possible for her to do the things she did and accomplish the things she accomplished.”