In Memoriam: Fletcher G. Rush
Fletcher G. Rush, former Florida Bar president, died in Orlando on January 7. Fletcher served the Bar from July 1966 to June 1967, when the country experienced escalation of the Vietnam War, riots in America’s cities, and a fire in the Apollo 1 cockpit at Cape Canaveral that took the lives of three astronauts.
Change and challenge were everywhere in America in the mid ’60s. But the steady commitment of this Bar leader was pivotal in guiding some of the enduring accomplishments for Florida in the improvement of the practice of law and the availability of legal services.
Fletcher Gray Rush was born in 1917 and graduated in 1942 from the University of Florida College of Law where he was president of Florida Blue Key and a member of Phi Kappa Phi. After graduation, he was called to active duty in the U.S. Army and saw combat duty in Europe. He was discharged as a captain in 1946, the same year he began practicing law in Orlando. He was the senior member of Rush Marshall Jones & Kelly, P.A., when he retired in 1992.
During his term the Clients’ Security Fund became operational. Regarding the program, he said, “The Fund will prove to be an important factor in the years ahead in restoring and enhancing the image of the legal profession in Florida.”
Fletcher lead the proposal to allow The Florida Bar to screen and investigate judicial candidates submitted to the governor for judicial vacancies. When Governor Claude Kirk agreed to forward the names of his prospective appointees to a Bar screening committee for a confidential investigation, Fletcher believed this opportunity would ensure only high caliber judicial appointments.
Recognizing the harmful impact of unauthorized practice of law, he accelerated investigation of UPL. “We are building a body of law in this UPL field which will assist the Bar in discharging its responsibility of protecting the public from the dangers and damage that can result from untrained and unlicenced persons engaging in the practice of law,” he wrote in the Bar Journal.
While he was president, the Bar center building on Apalachee Parkway was completed and dedicated, and the Trial Lawyers Section was created. Recognizing a trend in the practice of law, Fletcher appointed a study committee to consider specialization.
An economic survey of the membership revealed Florida lawyers spent 225 hours each year in free legal work and community service, the equivalent of more than five weeks a year. He commended this effort, saying, “This should lay to rest any doubts that the members of the legal profession are making a substantial contribution to the welfare of their communities over and above their legal services rendered in the usual practice of their profession.”
For 70 years, Fletcher Rush was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Orlando, chairing its administrative board and building committee. He was active in his local bar association and served on the state’s Board of Regents.
“We are living in a dynamic era and are witnessing a law explosion all around us. It will take the best efforts that our profession can put forth to keep pace with the demands which confront us,” he said. I thank Fletcher Rush for his vision, inspiration, and sense of duty to the profession and public, for we have all benefitted from his exceptional leadership.
