Esron McGruder Faris

Biography

McGruder Faris came to the Washington and Lee University law school faculty as law librarian in 1952. From 1953 to 1958 he served as both assistant professor of law and law librarian. He taught Legal Draftsmanship I & II, Taxation I & II, Virginia Procedure, and Wills and Administration. There are no recorded impressions of his teaching style or ability. Esron McGruder Faris (he appended "Jr." while his father was alive) was a native of Norfolk, Virginia. After service in the U.S. Army Air Forces from 1943-1946, he attended Washington and Lee University, earning his B.S. degree in 1949 and his J.D. degree in 1951. In 1954, he earned his Masters of Law in Taxation from Duke University. He also did graduate work at the University of Virginia, New York University, and The Hague Academy of International Law.

In 1958, Faris moved to Wake Forest University where he taught law until going into private practice in Williamsburg, Virginia with the firm of Ceddy, Baker and Inmaw around 1966. There he continued to teach part time at the Marshall Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary. He spent three summers in England where he organized the first overseas program for American law students on behalf of the College. He left private practice after only a few years and spent several years as visiting professor at a number of colleges and law schools including the University of Richmond, Emory University, Christopher-Newport College, Stetson University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of South Carolina, University of Tulsa and Drake University. He spent three summers in active practice with an insurance company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. By the mid-1970's, he was once again a professor of law at Wake Forest. In 1975 he published Accounting For Lawyers, Third Edition.