A Tribute to Justice Randy J. Holland
The Bencher | September/October 2022
By Justice William C. Koch Jr., Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons, and Michael A. McConnell, Esquire
Our friend Randy Holland died on March 15, 2022. He was and will long be remembered as one of the American Inns of Court’s most effective leaders. As for the three of us, we have lost our dear and cherished friend.
The American Inns of Court is a depository of the finest traditions of the American legal system. It is a voluntary community of persons with like-minded ideals fostering a high sense of professional competence and professional honor. Its members share a vision of a legal profession and judiciary dedicated to professionalism, ethics, civility, and excellence.
Woven into the fabric of the American Inns of Court is a recognition of the transformative importance of professional relationships and camaraderie. The Inns provide their members with opportunities to meet other lawyers and judges they might otherwise never have known and to establish professional and personal relationships they might never have had.
And with all of that, the Inns forge not only a network of respected judges and lawyers but also friendships among their members—the kind of friendship we had with Randy. It was the kind of friendship that connected four guys from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; Nellysford, Virginia; Fort Worth, Texas; and Nashville, Tennessee, who would likely never have met, much less become fast and lasting friends.
Perhaps, through your membership in the American Inns of Court, you have already formed these same bonds with attorneys and judges from other parts of your community and the country. If so, grow and cherish them; if not, seek them out.
Our goal here is not to catalogue Randy’s resume virtues but rather to provide our own personal perspectives on his contributions to the American Inns of Court movement and on the ways he influenced each of us.
In service that spanned 32 years, Randy was an active member of local Inns, an effective trustee, and a transformative, two-term president. He crisscrossed the country, opened his Rolodex, and used his considerable personal and professional goodwill to advance the Inns’ mission. In the process, Randy never sought the limelight or personal benefit.
His diplomatic skills were put to the test early in his tenure as a trustee. He was assigned the daunting assignment to inform Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, the moving force behind the creation of the American Inns of Court, that the trustees were disinclined to adopt his suggestion that lawyers who advertised should be barred from Inn membership. Like Daniel in the lion’s den, Randy prevailed and, in the process, ensured Chief Justice Burger’s continuing support of the Inn movement.
Randy reinforced our own enthusiasm and commitment to the Inns’ ideals. By example, he repeatedly encouraged each of us to say “yes” when it came to the work of the Inns of Court.
He was among the most often-requested speakers at Inn meetings. Despite his busy schedule as a justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, he always found time to accept an invitation. On one occasion, he used a speaking engagement as a quid pro quo to convince Don Lemons to become a trustee. Don was asked to invite Randy to speak at a local Inn’s annual banquet. Randy accepted. However, when the program began, the Inn’s president thanked Randy for attending the meeting and then introduced someone else as the keynote speaker. Randy showed no surprise and graciously applauded at the end of the speech. Later, when Don apologized, Randy said, “Well, Don, you are going to pay dearly for this one. There is an opening on the board, and I want you to fill it. Somehow, I know you will work very hard in this new position.” Don accepted and went on to serve as a president of the American Inns of Court.
Once during Mike McConnell’s tenure as a trustee, he invited Randy to speak at the annual joint meeting of the Inns in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Randy quickly accepted, even though the Inns could only underwrite his travel expenses. When Mike expressed concern about being unable to provide an honorarium, Randy, who likely would have donated it to the Inns anyway, suggested that some good Texas barbecue would be most welcome at the Holland household. A cooler full of Texas barbecue quickly made its way to Delaware. Notable among his many honors, the Texas House of Representatives later passed a resolution naming Randy as an “Honorary Texan.”
Randy became the fifth president of the American Inns of Court in 2000 and served until 2004. During his tenure, he visited local Inns in 40 states and encouraged the formation of new Inns, particularly ones affiliated with a law school. His work on behalf of the American Inns of Court had an international dimension as well. During his presidency, the American Inns of Court and The Honorable Society of King’s Inns of Dublin, Ireland, signed a Declaration of Friendship. The organization also forged stronger ties with the four English Inns of Court, the British Bar Council, and Combar.
This same Randy Holland who took the American Inns of Court to new heights and who had the ear of leaders of the bench and bar both in the United States and England also made time for Bill Koch. They first met in the fall of 1999 at the Celebration of Excellence in Washington, DC. Randy, who was the organization’s newly elected president, graciously invited Bill, who was the newest trustee, to sit at his table. Bill later served as the American Inns of Court president.
Randy, along with Don, Mike, and Bill, played a pivotal role in creating two national symposiums held during Don’s term as president. In 2011, the Inns presented a symposium at Georgetown Law Center in Washington, DC, called the “Status of the Legal Profession: Facing the Challenges of the 21st Century,” and in 2013 presented a symposium in New Orleans, Louisiana, “The Advocate: Professional Representation in the 21st Century.” Randy used his professional and personal connections to secure distinguished presenters, including Supreme Court justices and leading members of the English and Irish judiciary.
In 2013, Thomson Reuters and the Library of Congress asked Randy to edit a book celebrating the Magna Carta. In short order, Randy recruited 14 authors to provide articles. Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor was published in 2014 with a forward written by Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr. and articles by, among others, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Rt. Hon. The Lord Igor Judge, Lady Justice Mary Arden, Sir John Baker, The Reverend Robin Griffith-Jones, and Bill. Later, in 2015, Randy was the guiding force behind a joint celebration in Washington, DC, of Magna Carta’s 800th and the American Inns of Court’s 35th anniversaries.
Our relationships with Randy began with our service with the American Inns of Court but certainly did not end there. As time passed, they deepened into personal friendships, not only among the four of us but among our spouses as well. In addition to our Inns of Court escapades, we all have enjoyed each other’s company on many other excellent adventures in both the United States and England. We have shared serious discussions of the highest order and laughed uncontrollably as each of us sought to tell the bigger tale. We know that our lives have been richer and fuller because Randy and Ilona, his wife, have been in them.
We knew Randy as a catalyst, a collaborator, a constitutional scholar, a wise counselor, a cheerleader, and a droll comedian. Randy will continue to be present to each of us in our individual and shared memories. His vast intellect, his kindness, and his generosity of spirit have added to the sum of humanity. Well done, Randy, well done indeed. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Justice William C. Koch Jr. is a member of the Harry Phillips and the Nashville Entertainment and IP Law Inns in Nashville, Tennessee. He was president of the American Inns of Court Board of Trustees from 2018 to 2020. Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons is a member of the John Marshall and the Lewis F. Powell Jr. Inns in Richmond, Virginia, and an honorary member of the Randy J. Holland Delaware Workers’ Compensation Inn in Wilmington, Delaware. He was president of the American Inns of Court from 2010 to 2014. Michael A. McConnell, Esquire, is an Emeritus member of Eldon B. Mahon and the Hon. John C. Ford Inns in Fort Worth, Texas. He served as a member of the American Inns of Court Board of Trustees from 1999 to 2011.