Longtime legal advisor to WANADA recognized for 35 years of service Allen Jones, Jr. honored by WANADA Board at its summer meeting

Longtime legal advisor to WANADA recognized for 35 years of service Allen Jones, Jr. honored by WANADA Board at its summer meeting

An integral part of the WANADA organization for three and a half decades, Allen Jones, Jr.,

attorney-at-law with the DC firm Hamilton & Hamilton, served as counsel to the CEO and Board of Directors, commencing in the early 1980s and running into May of this year. Putting it on a time line, Jones worked with 21 WANADA Boards and Board chairmen, but only two CEOs: Gerard Murphy and John OêDonnell.

–There isnêt a better lawyer or finer man out there than Al Jones,” said Murphy who worked with Jones for 35 years at WANADA when Murphy was CEO and later general counsel. A lawyer himself, Murphy said he most appreciated the care Jones took in thinking through the myriad of legal questions posed to him by the WANADA leadership, affecting all aspects of the automobile business, dealership operations, government relations and media relations. –Sometimes weêd need Allen to research matters to come up with the proper approach, but it was Allenês keen legal intuition, seasoned by his long and distinguished career at the bar, that made all the difference in the reliable advice he provided on a regular basis,” said Murphy. –Al Jonesê sound counsel always steered us in the right direction and consistently put WANADA where it needed to be for our dealer members.”

Before Hamilton & Hamilton, Jones spent a good bit of his career with the highly respected Washington law firm of Wilkes-Artis (later Wilkes, Artis, Hedrick and Lane). He took over the WANADA account from his Wilkes-Artis colleague, Louis H. Mann, who himself represented WANADA for nearly 30 years working with Gerry Murphyês CEO predecessor, Maurice (Mike) Murphy in the 1950s, 60ês and 70ês.

A native Washingtonian who grew up in DC, Jones completed Georgetown University Law School, after serving in the U.S. Army and graduating from Michigan State –where he was quarterback of the football team. While at Wilkes-Artis, Jones became expert in real estate law and the hospitality industry, representing major hoteliers in Washington. Recognized by his lawyer peers, Jones was admitted into the exclusive Barristers Club, which he went on to chair, later stepping in to chair the Bar Association of the District of Columbia. His considerable trial attorney abilities came to the fore for WANADA when he and Steve Winter, Esq. for MADA co-directed the MADA/WANADA lawsuit against the Maryland attorney general in the landmark Doc Fees Case where Maryland dealers ultimately prevailed against the state in the late 1980s.

When Murphy announced his retirement from WANADA in his role as general counsel last May, a position he held after stepping out as CEO in 2014, Jones told the Board he would be moving on also.

A reception and dinner the WANADA Board held in Jonesê honor recently provided a forum for unparalleled reflection and recollection of days gone by in the Washington, DC area automobile business. –Allen Jones was at the heart of our WANADA organization for the long run of years he put in where he contributed mightily to the remarkable success WANADA has had on behalf of Washington area dealers,” said John OêDonnell in praising Jones at dinner. In response, and with the class for which he is also reputed, Jones thanked the dealers and simply said, –Ladies and gentlemen, the honor has been all mine, and I am forever grateful for the privilege to work with a second-to-none organization like WANADA.”