J.W. Montgomery III J.D. ’72 Inducted as Honorary Member of Order of the Coif at William & Mary Law School
Honored Dean Douglas, at left, praised Montgomery's distinguished record of achievement as a law student and as a member of the legal community at the Awards Ceremony. Photo by David F. Morrill
J.W. (“Jack”) Montgomery III, a member of William & Mary Law School’s Class of 1972, was inducted as an honorary member of the Order of the Coif during the school’s Awards Ceremony on May 12 in Williamsburg, Va. Montgomery joined 18 members of the Class of 2018 who also were inducted into membership at the event.
Membership in the Order of the Coif is the highest academic honor a law student can achieve. It is equivalent to membership in Phi Beta Kappa for undergraduates. Coif chapters may elect to honorary membership "those who as lawyers, judges and teachers have attained high distinction for their scholarly or professional accomplishments." The Law School's Coif chapter inducted its first members beginning with the Class of 1981; law alumni chosen as honorary inductees graduated in earlier classes. William & Mary law faculty who are Coif members select the graduate who will receive this honor.
Dean Davison M. Douglas told the audience that a recipient of the recognition must possess a distinguished record of achievement as a law student and as a member of the legal community. Jack Montgomery achieved distinctions in both chapters of his life, Douglas said.
Montgomery is highly regarded in the field of insurance law and is Of Counsel in the Pittsburgh, Pa., office of Jones, Day, where he specializes in insurance coverage advice and litigation, and regularly serves as an arbitrator in domestic and London-based/Bermuda-based insurance arbitrations. Among his honors and distinctions, he is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers; he is a Member of The American Law Institute, and has served as an adviser on ALI’s “Principles of the Law of Liability Insurance Project”; and he is listed in the Guide to the World’s Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers. For more than 20 years, Montgomery also has taught courses in insurance law as an adjunct law professor at the University of Pittsburgh. During law school at William & Mary, he served as Executive Editor of the William & Mary Law Review.
About William & Mary Law School
Thomas Jefferson founded William & Mary Law School in 1779 to train leaders for the new nation. Now in its third century, America's oldest law school continues its historic mission of educating citizen lawyers who are prepared both to lead and to serve.