Monroeville 'legal eagles' mark 100th birthdays

MONROEVILLE, Al.
Alice F. Lee and Nicholas S. Hare were born a month apart in the fall of 1911 and grew up walking to elementary school on a dusty Cherry Lane side by side.

Alice F. Lee and Nicholas S. Hare

They practiced law in the same circuit — even shared clients during their combined 140 years of service. And last week, the spotlight shone on both of them as federal, state and local officials and friends honored them on their 100th birthdays.
Lee — still a working lawyer with a razor-sharp mind — is known by many as the sister of Pulitzer-winning author Harper Lee. Smiling broadly, she watched a computer screen intently during the celebration. Lee has trouble hearing, so a court reporter typed in all the accolades so Lee could read along.
Hare has trouble seeing, but said he was honored by the attention at the event hosted by more than 60 local lawyers.
Speaker after speaker, from U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner to Alabama Criminal Appeals Justice Sam Welch and others, recounted numerous achievements by Lee and Hare, in and out of the courtroom.
United Methodist Bishop Paul Leeland praised them as dedicated church members, with Lee being a key player in expanding the role of women in church leadership in the state.
Lee was the first woman admitted to practice law in the 35th Judicial Circuit, according to Circuit Judge Dawn W. Hare, who organized the reception. Dawn Hare is the daughter-in-law of the honoree Hare.
Lee once made the front page of The Birmingham News, Dawn Hare said, when actor Gregory Peck, a friend of the Lee family, told reporters that she was among the most trustworthy and honest people he knew.
Lee has served the longest tenure of any member on the local Industrial Development Board, and had an important role in helping to bring the Vanity Fair Corp. to Monroe County in the mid-1930s.
Hare served in the Army Air Corps and worked on the Manhattan Project that produced the atomic bomb.
While working an assistant state attorney general, he prosecuted loan sharks before becoming chief legal counsel for the Alabama State Docks in 1960. He served in the Legislature, and was a legal adviser to federal officials regarding events in China.
As a legal reformer, he was responsible for updating the state’s Rules of Civil Procedure adopted in the 1970s.
Moreover, he holds seven automotive patents and once handled a divorce for a member of the Kennedy/Onassis family.
Lee’s partner in her practice, John Barnett, said that she’s “the epitome of what a lawyer should be,” and Nicholas “Chip” Hare described his partner/father as “an outstanding legal mind” and a man “who loves life.”
Monroe County Probate Judge Greg Norris recalled the first thing that Lee told him at their first hearing a few years ago. “She came in and said, ‘Young man, I am going to teach you something,’ and she did,” Norris said.