Longtime lawyer gets a celebration for his 60 years

NORFOLK

A civic go-getter who helped shape Norfolk International Terminals and squelch opposition to school integration.

A consummate attorney who's been listed in "The Best Lawyers in America" for a quarter-century.

An all-around good guy, too.

Robert C. Nusbaum, a partner with the law firm of Williams Mullen, was honored Monday with accolades, capers and Chandon champagne at a surprise party that drew more than 75 colleagues, friends and business leaders.

The occasion: the 60th anniversary of his career as an attorney.

Nusbaum began work on Aug. 10, 1948 - the same day "Candid Camera" debuted on television.

Still a full-time lawyer, Nusbaum, 84, offered a brief explanation for his longevity in the office: "I have more fun working."

William A. Old Jr., a partner with the firm, summed up Nusbaum with three observations: "He's the best guy to have on your team. He's the worst guy to have on the other side that I've ever seen. And once he makes up his mind, you're not going to change it."

To Kiki Carleton, a marketing manager at the firm, "he brings home the point that nice guys finish first."

Nusbaum, who offered the shortest speech of the afternoon, was no more talkative about his accomplishments during an interview.

The secret to his success? "Clients."

His future as a lawyer? "As long as they let me."

His proudest achievement? "Marrying Linda" - as in Linda Laibstain, another partner at the firm - 21 years ago.

A colleague, Stanley Samuels, called him "the best all-around attorney in the state of Virginia." But Nusbaum has earned acclaim, too, for his work in the community, not always traveling the easy road.

"He's unwavering," said Howard Gordon, a partner who has worked with Nusbaum for 35 years. "When he takes a position or gets involved in something, he's in it all the way."

In the late '50s, Norfolk officials closed some public schools to avoid admitting black students, in a movement known as Massive Resistance. Nusbaum helped raise money to hire a lawyer for black families challenging the closure. He also recruited business leaders to place an ad in The Virginian-Pilot calling on the city to reopen the schools.

"Massive Resistance was just plainly wrong," Nusbaum said Monday. "I did what I could."

About two decades later, Nusbaum organized a group in support of sex education, abortion rights and the newly created in-vitro fertilization program at Eastern Virginia Medical School. More recently, he was a leading force behind the creation of Virginia Wesleyan College's Center for the Study of Religious Freedom

Nusbaum has served on, or led, boards affiliated with institutions including Norfolk International Terminals, Eastern Virginia Medical School, the Library of Virginia and Ohef Sholom Temple, a Reform synagogue in Norfolk.

He was named the city's First Citizen in 1996 by the Cosmopolitan Club of Norfolk. On Monday, Gordon announced that Nusbaum has been named the second recipient of the Norfolk Foundation's Barron F. Black Community Builder Award.

His party drew city notables including Joshua P. Darden Jr., retired chairman of Colonial Auto Group, and real estate executive Harvey Lindsay.

"He is a man of great integrity and honesty, and he has that caring for other people that is just enormous," Lindsay said. "Those are qualities that are rare today."

After graduating from Maury High School in Norfolk, Nusbaum attended Harvard College.

The family business, now known as S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co., wasn't for him. So he went on to the University of Virginia Law School.

The day after he found out he'd passed the bar exam, he began working with Norfolk lawyer Alan Hofheimer. The firm that evolved from their partnership merged with Williams Mullen in 2004.

His work in business law includes real estate, trusts and taxes - a rarity, Gordon said, in this age of specialization.

Two years ago, a blip appeared in his gentlemanly record - a $250 fine for shoving an opposing lawyer from Richmond during a trial over a contested will.

Nusbaum said then that he was frustrated because the attorney had implied that his co-counsel - his wife, Laibstain - hadn't told the jury the truth.

On Monday, he termed the fine "preposterous," considering the other lawyer was 50 pounds heavier - and several years younger - than Nusbaum.

At the party, Laibstain told the crowd that Nusbaum is just as good a husband as he is an attorney.

"And now," she said, "I am going to do something that I never let him do in the office."

Then she kissed him.

Philip Walzer, (757) 222-3864, phil.walzer@pilotonline.com