News and Events
WC's Day In Court
Accompanied by daughters Jesse and Maggie, Nancy Kostar Nunn '79 held the Bible for her husband, John's, swearing in as District Court Judge for Kent County. Photo: Trisha McGee '81
Judge George B. Rasin '37 escorts his former law clerk, John Nunn '80, to the bench. Photo: Trisha McGee '81On a cold afternoon in January, a panel of seated judges and law colleagues gathered in a standing-room-only courtroom to pay tribute to the man Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley appointed to the District Court bench in Kent County. For John E. Nunn III '80—who clerked for a prominent Washington College alumnus as a law student and practiced law in the town where he went to college—it was a day of poignant memories in which Washington College figured prominently.
John Nunn had never been to Kent County until he enrolled at Washington College. It's been home ever since.
After graduating from the University of Baltimore School of Law, Nunn applied for clerkships on the Eastern Shore.The Hon. George B. Rasin, Jr. '37, former Chief Judge of the Second Judicial Circuit, hired him.
"I don't think it hurt that I had gone to Washington College," Nunn says. "Judge Rasin liked hiring WC graduates. Among the benefits of attending Washington College are the connection you have with the community and the contacts you make along the way."
One of those contacts would help him challenge a significant environmental threat. From 1993-2005, Nunn was co-chair of the Chemical Demilitarization Citizens Advisory Commission, which provided citizen input to the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Army regarding the disposal of chemical weapons at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
"John Moag '77 was in my fraternity. He was a tremendous help to me in fighting that mess."
Moag was among the well-wishers in the courtroom that day, along with Nunn's college roommate Geoff Rogers '80, a College Trustee who once worked for Senator Joe Biden.
Prior to joining the Office of the Public Defender for Kent and Queen Anne's counties in 1992, Nunn had been in private practice with the Chestertown law firm of Mowell, Nunn & Wadkovsky. Both of his partners graduated from Washington College: Mitch Mowell in 1973 and Basil Wadkovsky in 1961.
They were there, along with Hon. Stephen Baker '77, his predecessor the Hon. Floyd L. Parks, the Hon. J. Frederick Price '72, Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of the Maryland Court of Appeals, and the Hon. Ben C. Clyburn, Chief Judge of the District of Maryland.
Lawyers and judges detailed Nunn's suitability for his position as people's judge. In addition to his commitment to family and his ties to the community, the audience heard of Nunn's integrity, his sense of fair play, and his strong work ethic.
"I'll be traveling all over the state of Maryland," Nunn says. "Luckily, Kent County's District Court doesn't have enough customers to hear cases more than two days a week. I suspect wherever I go, I'll find people from Washington College."