Courthouse a Home Away From Home

Jon smiled and shook his head.

"I like seeing a lot of my dad and sister now," he said, then joked about his junior status in the family's legal lineup. "Plus, some of my clients appreciate that I know some people in high places."

In many ways, the U.S. District Court is a kind of family home.

Their personal stories are intertwined with the court's history. Each learned the power of the law here and can trace career trajectories to work they did in the building. Some of their most profound moments of victory and disappointment unfolded in the oak-paneled courtrooms.

All three are former law clerks who returned to practice here. Bill Jeffress, a partner in the firm of Baker Botts, clerked for Judge Gerhard A. Gesell, who presided over many landmark cases, from Watergate to Iran-contra. In 1971, Jeffress was working in Gesell's chambers when the judge famously ruled that The Washington Post could print the Pentagon Papers, a historical assessment of the Vietnam War that embarrassed the U.S. government.

When Amy was growing up, Gesell was her dad's mentor and "like my second grandfather," she recalled. Two decades later, when she graduated from Yale Law School -- just like her father -- Amy, too, went to clerk for Gesell.

After Gesell's death in 1993, Amy finished her year of clerking with Judge Thomas F. Hogan, now chief judge of the court. Jon followed in Amy's footsteps, clerking for Hogan seven years later.

Jon spent several years as an associate for the Williams & Connolly law firm but decided after consulting with Hogan and Kramer that he would work for the Office of the Federal Public Defender. He said it was a natural fit because as a clerk, "I always found myself rooting for the defense."

Bill, who now typically charges more than $600 an hour, has a reputation as a go-to lawyer for white-collar defendants. He represented President Richard M. Nixon in a case blocking public access to Watergate tape recordings and has won acquittals for such clients as former Tyson Foods executive Archibald R. Schaffer III and former Louisiana governor Edwin W. Edwards (D).

Although their job choices are different, there definitely is a certain Jeffress way about them.

The three share the same Democratic Party leanings. Bill and his wife have long been active in the party. Amy worked in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration with her future husband. And Jon was an advance worker for Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign.

They are all just a little taller than 5 feet -- not by much. They share a self-deprecating manner that the kids attribute to their dad. Amy's more likely to talk about her two sons than the fact that this fall she won the Attorney General's John Marshall Award for excellence in trial work and was on a list of candidates suggested to the White House for D.C. Superior Court judgeships.