Bill Thomas built a reputation over decades as an esteemed legal advocate and political adviser in Virginia, a sage voice who counseled governors, led the state’s Democratic Party and helped advance major infrastructure projects in Northern Virginia. One of the preeminent land-use attorneys in the Commonwealth and a lifelong resident of Virginia, he helped to establish a law firm that later became a part of Reed Smith. A Virginia state senator once described him as “the smartest man in the Commonwealth.”
“Bill Thomas was a consummate lawyer and a dynamic, effective leader in the legal profession,” said Gregory B. Jordan, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer of The PNC Financial Services Group and former Global Managing Partner of Reed Smith “He served as a role model and mentor to hundreds of attorneys in his storied career, and his legislative advocacy made an indelible, positive impact on Virginia and the nation’s capital. He often remarked that it was his nature to see how the law could be improved, and his legacy will reflect how long and how well he was able to achieve meaningful change.”
The elder Thomas’ legal career at Reed Smith spanned an administrative practice before Virginia state agencies; a legislative practice before the state’s General Assembly; a land-use and administrative practice before all Northern Virginia Jurisdictions and agencies; and a wide-ranging corporate governance practice.
In 1999, Bill Thomas and Til Hazel combined Virginia-based Hazel & Thomas with Reed Smith. The nearly 120-member Hazel & Thomas had been created a decade earlier through the merger of two of Virginia’s political and legal powerhouses - Thomas & Fiske of Alexandria and Hazel, Beckhorn and Hanes of Fairfax – both of which excelled at real estate, tax and land use law, banking and commercial litigation.
“Bill was an extraordinary leader, a formidable and effective advocate, and an exceptional colleague, mentor, and friend,” said Edward Mullen, Reed Smith’s Richmond Managing Partner and mentee of Bill’s. “He was a stalwart advocate on behalf of the Virginia business community over many decades, leading the charge for many of the infrastructure changes in Northern Virginia, including construction of ‘HOT Lanes’ on the Capital Beltway and passage of the Virginia Condominium Act, which became a model for the nation. A gentleman through and through, Bill served as a role model for countless members of the Virginia business, legal, and lobbying communities. His intelligence, integrity, and fundamental kindness will be greatly missed and long remembered.”
A former chair of the Virginia Democratic Party, Bill Thomas was a close adviser to Govs. Charles S. Robb and Gerald. L. Baliles. He received a governor’s appointment to serve on the Board of the Center for Innovative Technology, the Board of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and as the Virginia member of the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority. He was a Life Member of the American Law Institute, as well as a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference. He was a fellow of the Virginia Bar Association, served on the boards of the Virginia State University, the University of Richmond, and the Federal City Council of Washington. Bill served for 13 years on the Board of Directors of Virginia Electric & Power Company (now Dominion Energy) and Perpetual Savings Bank. He wrote extensively on condominium law, lectured on the changing electric utility business, and taught courses on Robert's Rules of Order. He was a 1963 graduate of the University of Richmond School of Law.
Active professionally throughout his life, Bill was recognized as a 2017 BTI Client Service Super All-Star for service excellence and selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for Government Relations Practice, 2013-2020, and by Washington, D.C. Super Lawyer, 2010-2019. Other honors included recognition in Super Lawyers, Corporate Counsel Edition, in Administrative Law (2009 and 2010); selection for Virginia Business Magazine's Legal Elite as one of Virginia's best "Legislative/Regulatory/Admin" lawyers (2008-2010); as Washington Business Journal’s Top Lawyer in the State and Local Lobbying category (2006, 2008); as a Chambers USA Senior Statesman in Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use in Northern Virginia (2008, 2010); as a Chambers USA leading lawyer in Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use: Northern Virginia (2007, 2009); and, a Super Lawyer by Virginia Super Lawyers for his Administrative Law practice (2006-2008, 2010-2011, 2014 and 2016).
Bill Thomas is survived by his wife, Suzanne Campbell Foster; his two sons, William Griffith Thomas III and his wife, Heather; and Alexander (Sandy) Young Thomas and his wife, Brigid; his daughter, Margaret Campbell Thomas Konkel and her husband, Brian Konkel; five grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.
A Memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. February 19 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 228 South Pitt St. Alexandria, Va. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Randolph-Macon Academy, Front Royal, Va., or the University of Richmond.
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