Crump Law Office to close in September

“Maries County clients fantastic”

By Laura Schiermeier, Staff Writer
Posted 7/27/22

VIENNA — When Albert Crump, Jr. set out to have a career, the Columbia, MO youth decided to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC) and major in business administration. He graduated …

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Crump Law Office to close in September

“Maries County clients fantastic”

Posted

VIENNA — When Albert Crump, Jr. set out to have a career, the Columbia, MO youth decided to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC) and major in business administration. He graduated three years later and thought it would be best if he had another degree as well. He wanted to have a career in upper management of a business. He enrolled in law school at UMC and three years later, in 1974, he had a law degree. 

His first job was clerking for Missouri Supreme Court Judge Fred Henley in Jefferson City. He did this for a year and says, “It was eye opening and educational.” While working for Judge Henley, he met a man who was the brother-in-law of attorney Charles Smallwood of Phelps County. He was told John Williams and Charles Smallwood were looking for another attorney to join their law firm. Judge Northern, who had become a judge in the judicial circuit, had worked with Williams and Smallwood previously. Crump was interested and they hired him. He and his wife, Cherri, moved to Rolla. 

He jumped right in and began working on different types of cases in the general law practice. They did trial work, estate planning, “Whatever walked in the door,” he said. The three attorneys worked out of their office at 4th and Rolla Streets, which now is where Wiggins Abstract is located. 

Williams and Smallwood also did some work in Vienna. Hollenbeck Title in those days was located where the Vienna Library is at the corner of Main and Third Streets. They had a table at the title company in a small room where they used to see clients. 

Johnny Hayes built the building at 206 S Main where Crump Law Office and Hollenbeck Title located to in 1992. Crump said Roy Bassett helped him move the furniture into his new office space. They were very good friends. 

Crump bought Hollenbeck Title Company, which was located in the building with his growing Vienna law practice. At first he and legal assistant Bev Clark come to Vienna to work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. They worked at the Rolla office the other three days a week, which included Saturday. 

Before he was working in Vienna full time, Crump said he was developing a client base in Vienna. He also “got roped into a lot of jobs.” When then-prosecuting attorney Harold Hutchison became unable to perform his duties, Al Crump became Maries County’s assistant prosecuting attorney. He says it was challenging.

“You just don’t walk into Vienna and take charge of things,” Crump said. “You have to convince people of your worth.” He was able to establish relationships with Vienna people and he became accepted among them. 

He and Vienna native David Schwartze had gone to law school together and they were good friends. There were very few attorneys in Vienna and Maries County. There was a need for them though. When he moved into his own building on Main Street in Vienna, he was practicing law on his own. He left the law firm of John Williams to establish his own practice. 

Johnny Hayes built the building at 206 S Main where Crump Law Office located to in 1992. Crump said Roy Bassett helped him move the furniture into his new office space. They were very good friends. 

Crump Law continues to have an office in Rolla, which is where his son, James Crump, also an attorney, works. It is a busy practice as they do a lot of business law, estate planning and probate work. In the beginning he did some criminal defense work in the 25th Judicial Circuit, but later on did not. He doesn’t do divorce work either. 

Crump says if people need to get in touch with him, after Sept. 1, 2022, they can do so by contacting the Rolla Crump Law Office. He and Bev plan to retire on Sept. 1. He will close his Vienna law office, and Hollenbeck Title is for sale. “The plan today is to retire” on that date, Crump said last week.

Clients who want to pick up a copy of their files can do so if they’ve done business with Crump Law within the past 10 years. Previous to 10 years, the files have been destroyed. Contact the office if interested in this.

Crump said the decision to retire and close his Vienna office certainly was not an easy one and it is going to be difficult for him and Bev to leave Vienna. “We’ve been blessed with good clients over the years,” he said. “I will miss them.” 

Albert Crump, 72, has been practicing law for 51 years. Bev Clark, 71, has worked for the courts or for attorneys since she was 17 years old. 

During the years they were working at the law offices in Vienna and Rolla, they were busy, working six days a week and hauling work back and forth between the two places. 

All of the people who they first worked with at the courthouse in Vienna are gone or no longer work there. The people who were in charge of city hall have all changed.

One of the most memorable cases he worked on was the Charlotte Moylan versus Maries County and Sheriff Milford French lawsuit. He represented Maries County because he was the county’s assistant prosecuting attorney at the time. The case was in federal court and it was a difficult one for which he was able to obtain a jury verdict in Maries County’s favor. He says it’s one of the highlights of his career. “I was glad to be able to help the people of Maries County by defending them.”

Not everything was good for him in Vienna. When his friend and colleague David Schwartze was gravely injured in a motor vehicle accident, “It was difficult. It still is,” Crump said about the disablement of his friend who died in August 2021. 

Another was the loss of Roy Bassett, who as Sheriff of Maries County was gunned down and died of gunshot wounds in an event that devastated the community. Bassett’s death was a blow to Crump and to Bev Clark. Crump said Bassett was a good friend and he misses him. What happened seems “like a distant event,” he said.

There are many men and women he worked with over the years who are gone. They were good people. Crump said they took a chance on a young lawyer. 

“I want to thank the people of Maries County,” he said. “They made me welcome here” and he appreciates their confidence in him for letting him help them with their legal needs. “We had some fantastic clients.”