Alexander “Sandy” Wellford, retired attorney, dies at 78

By Ellen Robertson

Published: January 1, 2009

In 1978, Richmond lawyer Alexander “Sandy” Wellford went to Hanover County Circuit Court to urge the judge to keep open to the public the fourth murder trial of John Paul Stevenson.

He represented Richmond Newspapers Inc., whose reporters from the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Richmond News Leader, along
with other court onlookers, had been ejected from the small courtroom almost as soon as they arrived.

The local judge denied access to the trial, and it proceeded in private. The Virginia Supreme Court affirmed the local judge’s decision.

However, Mr. Wellford wasn’t finished. “Sandy was the lawyer on the ground, standing in the breech,“ said Craig Merritt, partner in the Richmond law firm of Christian & Barton LLC.

Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia was reversed in the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was decided in 1980 that there is a constitutional access of the public to attend trials.

“This bedrock of First Amendment law, of constitutional law, has been cited thousands—tens of thousands—of times since then in support of public access to court proceedings. It is an extraordinarily important legal principle,“ Merritt said.

“Sandy was the lawyer that set it in motion. He didn’t argue the case in the Supreme Court, but the thinking and framing of the case were clearly his.“

Mr. Wellford, who retired in 2002 as a partner at Christian & Barton, died Wednesday at his Glen Allen home. He was 78.

During 44 years, “he had a very, very long and very involved practice,“ Merritt said. “He had numerous Freedom of Information, defamation, access-to-court and business cases. He had a wide business practice, especially in labor and
employment.“

The Richmond native was born into a family steeped in the law. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in 1951 and his law degree there in 1958, with Army service in occupied post-World War II Germany sandwiched in between.

Noted for his “honest, scholarly approach to law, he was an eloquent speaker and writer,“ Merritt said. “He never lost his wicked sense of humor,“ even after infirmity landed him in a wheelchair.

Mr. Wellford was a mentor for and teacher of many younger lawyers trailing in his wake.

“He never demanded the limelight” and would push others to the front when in truth he deserved the credit for deeds he ascribed to others, Merritt said. “For every time he appeared formally, he was consulted constantly by lawyers and members of the press. He was a big personality without a big ego.“

An outdoorsman, he loved to fish and duck hunt—he trained his own hunting dogs early on, said his wife of 19 years, Georgiana Gekas Wellford. He was trustee emeritus and former state director of Ducks Unlimited and had been active with a number of conservation groups.

Survivors, besides his wife, include three sons, Landon Carter Wellford of Virginia Beach, Armistead Nelson Wellford of Richmond and James Barrett Wellford of Brooklyn, N.Y.; a daughter, Ann Drury Wellford of Richmond; a sister, Frances Mason of Ellicott City, Md.; and 10 grandchildren.

A Trisagion prayer service will be held Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at Bliley Funeral Homes’ Central Chapel, 3801 Augusta Ave.

A funeral will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 815 E. Grace St. Burial will be in Hollywood Cemetery.