After 60 years, lawyer 'proud of my profession'

When John Arthur Jones first reported to work at his Tampa law firm, the Soviet Union had just blockaded Berlin, the first stored-program computer was beginning operation and the New York Giants were battling the Boston Braves for baseball's National League lead.

Those teams changed fan bases. The Braves went to Milwaukee and then Atlanta. The Giants traded upper Manhattan for San Francisco.

But Jones, 87, continues to work at the same firm he joined in May 1949, even though it has gone through various lineup changes before emerging as Holland & Knight.

Jones remembers little about his first day at the firm Knight, Thompson, Knight and Bell on the seventh floor of the Stovall Professional building on Jackson Street.

"I walked in. They showed me my office, it was a big one. And, they showed me my files," he recalls.

Since then, Jones has earned a national reputation in the field of trusts, estates and fiduciary law. He was recently honored for his six decades of service to the profession.

The Florida Bar lists only 103 people with 60 years of service, although it couldn't say how many are still active like Jones.

"After 60 years of practice, I am still proud of my profession," Jones said. "It doesn't have the glitter and shine it once had, but it is still an honorable profession."

Being an attorney wasn't a childhood dream, however.

"I didn't even know a lawyer," he said.

He and longtime friend Chesterfield "Harvey" Smith joined the Army Reserve together. They were called up when the country entered World War II, serving in the 95th Infantry Division.

Smith proved to be a mentor to Jones throughout his life: first as his sergeant, then as a career counselor and finally as collaborator in creating one of the state's largest and most prestigious law firms.

Before the war, Arcadia-born Jones was a bookkeeper at a lumber company in Immokalee. Afterward, he was all set to go to Georgetown University, but officials at DeSoto County High School went on Christmas vacation in 1946 without forwarding his transcript. Georgetown officials said it was too late for January's term and he would have to wait until the fall.

Jones impatiently opted for a business college in Jacksonville. A nephew persuaded Jones to join him at the University of Florida after completing those studies.

Jones planned to become a journalist. It didn't work out.

"I had trouble spelling," he said. "Still do."

Smith also was attending UF, getting his law degree. He let Jones park his new Ford in his garage and Smith and his wife would have Jones over for Sunday dinner.

During one such meal, Jones fretted that he wasn't getting any marketable skills.

"I was saying, 'Hell, I'm an old man and life is passing me by,'" he said. "Harvey said, 'Why don't you come over to the law school?'"

Jones said his friend took him to the law school that Monday and chose the courses he needed.

He laughs when he recalls how he and Smith decades later persuaded the various partners to accept the name Holland & Knight when they merged their firms in 1968.

"We told them it was either that or we'd call it Smith & Jones," he said.

Increasing complexity

Jones said he didn't plan on specializing in trusts and estates. In the service, he tried to reject a promotion to major because of the income tax consequences. The Army didn't go along.

For most of his early career he practiced just about every type of law.

"I never did a divorce," he said. "That is about the only thing I haven't done."

Jones said there once were only about 30 forms a lawyer needed. Now, just tax codes take up cabinets.

"Everything has become more specialized, more complex, more difficult and involved," he said.

He also said modern practice isn't as dignified.

"There was a more professional approach," he said.

He's particularly offended by the rash of legal advertising.

"It is embarrassing. It doesn't make you feel proud."

But the lure of helping people keeps him coming to his downtown office every day.

"I just enjoy having some skills to be useful to people and to be appreciated."

Jones said young lawyers need to understand a basic truth.

"You have nothing but your reputation," he said. "You can't afford not to be honest and not do your best."