Maryland Bar Honors W&L Alum Hamp Tisdale '74L
During its annual meeting in Ocean City, Md., earlier this month, the Maryland State Bar Association honored Judge John H. (Hamp) Tisdale, of Washington and Lee’s Law School Class of 1974, with the 2011 Anselm Sodaro Award for Judicial Civility.
Hamp has been associate judge of the Frederick (Md.) County Circuit Court, 6th Judicial Circuit, since January 1995. He announced earlier this year that he would be retiring this month.
The Sodaro Award, named for a former judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City Circuit Court, is given to a Maryland judge “whose courtroom demeanor best exemplifies the high ideals of civility and courtesy practiced by the late Judge Anselm Sodaro.”
Hamp was praised for “his deep regard for those appearing before him by treating all with courtesy, dignity and respect. He has been described as ‘the epitome of judicial temperament, . . . a gentleman and a scholar, with apparently unlimited patience and a genuine civility toward jurors, litigants, witnesses and … attorneys.'”
A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Hamp entered the W&L Law School after four years of active duty in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. He had a general practice in Frederick, Md., before being named to the circuit court. Involved in a variety of committees with the state board, Hamp will finish a term as chair of the Judicial Ethics Committee of the Maryland Judicial Conference.
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