Richard J. Wood (Capital)
- B.A. 1974, Kentucky
- J.D. 1977, Ohio State
- LL.M. 1985, Georgetown
After graduating from The Ohio State University College of Law in 1977 (it was not yet known as the Moritz College of Law) I threw all of my belongings into a ’73 Chevy Vega and headed for San Francisco. As I crossed the country I listened to my bar review tapes and enjoyed the freedom of the road. I had no job, no house, and only one or two friends waiting for me in San Francisco, but I was young and confident in my future.
After passing the California bar and finding a furnished room in a beautiful house in Diamond Heights, I took a non-paying job with a lawyer named Don Knutson and his firm which was known as Gay Rights Advocates. I worked there for a year on strategies and briefs to be used in the battle against the Briggs Initiative. Had it succeeded, the Briggs Initiative would have prohibited gay and lesbian people from teaching in California public schools. Our work and strategies prevailed and the Briggs initiative did not pass.
Contemporaneous with my work at Gay Rights Advocates I worked for a legal research firm called Jurisearch and for the law firm of Jerry Ofstein and Associates. During my time in San Francisco I was privileged to have a front row seat during one of the most interesting times in San Francisco history. I was working in San Francisco City Hall Law Library when Councilman Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone were murdered in their city hall offices by Dan White. As you may remember White had resigned his position on City Council and then wanted it back. Moscone refused his request for reinstatement and White blamed Milk, the only elected openly gay official in the country at the time, and Moscone for his political humiliation. He crawled into building through a basement window to avoid the metal detectors, and shot them both. I also witnessed the “White Night” riot that followed White’s conviction on reduced charges under the famous “Twinkie” diminished capacity defense. In many ways I was living the San Francisco life described in Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City.”
In 1980 my father became ill and I had to return to Washington D.C. to help with his care. While in San Francisco I worked primarily on tax matters and so I applied for and obtained a position with the Office of Chief Counsel at the national office of the IRS. I worked for five years in the Disclosure Litigation Division and then transferred to what was then known as Washington D.C. District Counsel. While there I spent much of my time trying tax shelter cases in various cities around the U.S. It was during this time that I completed my Ll.M. in Taxation at Georgetown University.
In early 1988 I learned of a program that allowed three attorneys from the Service to teach for one year as a visiting professor at three American law schools. I was accepted into the program by the Service and was then interviewed by Professor Bob Wade of Capital University Law School in Columbus Ohio for a one year visiting position at that school.
I loved Washington D.C. and my work with the Service but I had reached a stage in my career when a “promotion” to management loomed as the next logical step for me to take. The chance to be a visiting professor of tax law, even for only a year, was a golden opportunity and when Capital extended an offer to me I eagerly accepted it.
During the 1988-89 academic year I taught courses in Advanced Individual Income Tax Problems, Partnership Taxation and a Seminar on Tax Policy. I loved it. Luckily for me Capital was pleased with my work. I returned to Capital in 1990 where I have been happily serving ever since.
One of the highlights of my unusual legal career was to be chair of the design committee that created the building that Capital currently occupies. I worked closely with every constituency in the law school community and together with a terrific team of architects we created a design that has worked beautifully for the past eight years. I was also the owner’s representative on site and as such observed and participated in every phase of the construction process. A more detailed account of my experience can be read in volume 27 pages 709-782 of the Capital University Law Review.
I don’t know what lies ahead in my career but if the past is any guide, I can’t wait.
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