Sunday, April 1, 2007

John Jay Corson IVLawyer

J. Jay Corson IV, 71, a former partner in McGuireWoods LLP and its predecessor law firms for 37 years, died March 27 of congestive heart failure at his home in Oakton.

Mr. Corson, a former judge advocate in the Air Force, was an associate, then partner of McGuireWoods from 1963 until his retirement in 2000. He continued as a sole practitioner for two years.

Mr. Corson was born in Richmond and graduated from the University of Virginia, where he also received a law degree in 1960. After law school, he worked briefly at a New York law firm and then served three years in the Air Force JAG Corps in Turkey and at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

Mr. Corson was a past president of the Virginia State Bar (1988-89) and Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys (1981-82). He was a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and was listed in Best Lawyers in America, a top referral guide to the legal profession, from its inception in 1983 until his retirement. He was a member of the American Bar Foundation, the Virginia Law Foundation and a member of the ABA House of Delegates from 1989 to 1996.

He served as commissioner in chancery with the Fairfax County Circuit Court from 1966 to 2004.

In 1993, Mr. Corson was one of the first inductees into the Episcopal High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

His marriages to Ann Brewer Corson, Clare Monahan Corson and Melody Klein Corson ended in divorce.

Survivors include two children from his first marriage, John J. Corson V of Denver and Catherine A. Corson of Wynnewood, Pa.; and two children from his second marriage, Clare C. Ruday of Winchester, Va., and Jennifer P. Corson of Greenville, N.C.; and three grandchildren.