Over the years, the firm has been Douglas


Rucker says Judge Alexander Hamilton Sands Jr., the grandson of the fi rm’s founder, provided an oral history of the fi rm several decades ago.


in 1842, he didn’t formally obtain his license to practice law until age 21 in 1849. A prolific author of legal tomes, he also edited a Richmond newspaper, the Evening Bulletin, and briefly served as a substitute editor of the Southern Liter- ary Messenger, a magazine best known for having employed Edgar Allan Poe as a staff writer and editor. In addition to working


as a lawyer and newspaper editor, Sands, the father of 13, was also a Baptist minis- ter who founded churches in Ashland and Glen Allen. He died at age 59 in 1887. The firm’s name has


changed over the years. During the Civil War, it was known as Howard and Sands. Much of the firm’s early historical records were lost in the April 1865 evacu- ation fire when Richmond fell to Union forces. It became Sands and Sands in the late 19th


century as the


founder’s sons joined the firm and guided it on into the 20th


century. As the firm grew after


World War II, it became known as Sands, Marks, Sands, Hening & Sydnor. In the 1960s, the name was Sands, Anderson, Marks & Clarke. It was known as Sands, Anderson, Marks & Miller from 1978 to 2010.


known for its strong civil litigation and business and governmental law practices. In the 1970s and 1980s, it represented clients in many asbestos lawsuits in Virginia. With more than 50 attorneys, the firm isn’t small but it also isn’t large, which helps create a close-knit, familial culture, says L. Lee Byrd, the firm’s immediate past president. Sands Anderson has many attor-


neys who are involved in community volunteerism and pro-bono work. The firm itself is undertaking a statewide volunteer initiative to promote child- hood literacy in cooperation with groups such as the Central Virginia Children’s Book Bank, a program of the Children’s Museum of Richmond. As the firm moves toward its 200th


anniversary in 2042, it is focused on strategic planning and cultivating its next generation of attorneys as well as updating its technology to improve client services. The firm is seeking to expand its


client base along the mid-Atlantic region,


L. Lee Byrd is the fi rm’s immediate past president.


particularly focusing on “private business concerns and growing that [clientele] because that’s where a lot of the action is, so to speak, in the new types of law that are coming along,” Byrd says. “We really are excited about our firm


and our future and what we have built and what we have yet to build,” he adds.


The fi rm’s founder, Alexander H. Sands (shown in the portrait at right) was a newspaper editor and minister as well as a lawyer.


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