Our Founders

Marks & Harrison rose to dominance in Virginia through the early work of three individuals. David A. Harrison, Jr. was born in 1886 and practiced law until his death on February 16, 1966. He was a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School. Affectionately known as Judge Harrison, David A. Harrison, Jr. enjoyed a distinguished career. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1914 to 1916. He secured the charter for the City of Hopewell which earned him the name “Father of Hopewell.” He also was Hopewell’s first Commonwealth’s Attorney and served as its Mayor. In 1944, he was a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention. Mr. Harrison was influential in Democratic politics, education, banking, business, and the work of the Virginia Bar Association.

C. Hardaway Marks, a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School was not only one of the preeminent trial lawyers in Southside Virginia but was one of the most powerful and influential politicians in the state of Virginia during his career in the Virginia General Assembly. He served as Chairman of the powerful Courts of Justice Committee and the Corporations, Insurance, and Banking Committees of the Virginia House of Delegates where he served for twenty years. He was voted the most influential legislature in the Commonwealth of Virginia by his fellow legislators. He was a decorated United States Marine and a veteran of World War II. He was tirelessly dedicated to community activities in the Tri-Cities area. In April of 1987, Hardaway Marks received the highest award given by the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, its Distinguished Service Award, in recognition of his years of fighting to protect the rights of injured Virginians in the courts and in the General Assembly. Mr. Marks was honored when the bridges over the Appomattox River were named after him in 1998. A picture of Hardaway Marks was hung in the lobby of the Circuit Court of the City of Hopewell in 2007.

James G. Harrison practiced law with the Firm until his death in 1989. He was a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School. He was born in 1925 and was active in the work of state bars of Virginia as well as in his community. He was a member of the Committee on Nominations to the Supreme Court of Virginia, a member of a labor law division of the Virginia State Bar, a past president of the Hopewell Bar Association, and president of the Hopewell Chamber of Commerce. He was a Chairman of the Prince George County Democratic Committee and its electoral board. In 1980 he received the Arthur Sydney Bedell Award for his extraordinary personal service in the field of water pollution control. He served as counsel to the Hopewell School Board and was instrumental in the growth and expansion of Marks & Harrison. He was the father of the current president of the Firm, James G. Harrison III. His brother David A. Harrison also served as Of Counsel to the Firm.

Marks & Harrison: A Century of Leaders

Jack C. Gould graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1975 and earned his law degree at the University of Richmond in 1978, was a federal court clerk for a year, joined Marks & Harrison in 1979 and became partner in 1983. He was elected Hopewell’s commonwealth’s attorney and served from 1986 to 2000 and also city attorney from 1990 to 1995. He returned to Marks & Harrison in 2000. Jack attained the Martindale-Hubbell highest rating for attorneys. He had served on the Fourth District Disciplinary Committee and served as a governor of the Young Lawyers Conference of the Virginia State Bar. He was a former president of the Sixth Judicial and Hopewell bar associations as well as of Southside Virginia Legal Services, Inc. He was a member of the Crater District Advisory Board of the Legal Information Network for Cancer.

James M. Minor, Jr. was a graduate of the University of Richmond and T.C. Williams School of Law. He was one of the founders of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and served as its first Treasurer. He was a longstanding member of the Board of VTLA as well as being active in the American Association of Justice and the Virginia State Bar.  He was one of the first attorneys in Virginia to be certified as a civil trial specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and was a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Jim was a fierce trial lawyer and a dedicated advocate for the civil justice system. He practiced in the Firm’s Richmond office from 1994 until his retirement in 2001