STANLEY MOORE

San Francisco County

Biographies

STANLEY MOORE

MOORE, STANLEY, Attorney at Law, San Francisco, was born at Oakland, California, June 9, 1880, the son of Albert Alphonso and Jaqueline (Hall) Moore. Both his paternal and maternal ancestors fought in the war of the Revolution, the former of Scotch-Irish, and the latter of English origin. From both sides he also inherits his legal abilities. His paternal grandmother was a sister of the late Hon. H. K. S. O’Melveny of Los Angeles, a noted member of the California Bar, and his mother was a sister of the Hon. Samuel P. Hall, District Attorney of Alameda County, and subsequently Superior Judge of the same county. His father’s family are among the oldest residents of Monroe County, Illinois, having settled at Waterloo in 1778, when the county was a part of the State of Virginia. A. A. Moore, who was born there, came with his parents, in 1885, to Alameda County, California, and has since established a reputation as one of the ablest lawyers of this State.

Mr. Moore attended the Grammar School in Oakland, and in 1894 entered the Oakland High School, where he remained for one year. For the next two years he was a student at Boone’s Academy, Berkeley, and was graduated thence, in 1897, into the University of California, from which institution he took the degree of B. A. in 1901. While there he not only shaped his studies toward the legal career he had in view, but also studied law in his father’s office, and in December of the same year as he graduated passed his examinations for the Bar.

The year following his admittance to practice he became Deputy District Attorney of Alameda County, and held this position until the middle of 1903, when he entered his father’s office as an assistant. He continued in this capacity until January 1, 1911, at which date he became a partner in the firm of A. A. Moore & Stanley Moore.

While the bulk of the firm’s practice has been confined to civil law, mainly in the defense of damage suits, Mr. Moore’s skillful handling of important criminal cases has attracted wide attention. In these his original methods of examination, cross-examination and pleading, which have contributed much to his success in his civil suits, have also swelled his reputation as an advocate. During the so-called “graft prosecution” he was associate counsel in the Calhoun case, and in the conduct of the defense was an able assistant of his associates.

He attracted the attention of the public in San Francisco and in the State at large by the part he took in this trial. In spite of his youth, he was entrusted with some of the most important details. He won the respect of associates and opposing counsel alike.

Mr. Moore’s ambitions have always been legal and have absorbed most of his attention, permitting him little time for other interests. He regards the important affairs entrusted to him as a serious and ethical responsibility which can be properly discharged only through concentration and infinite pains. To him the conduct of a trial, as well as the examination of the questions of law involved, is in the nature of a scientific study fruitful of the same kind of pleasure, with the intensely human element added. Partly as a result of his view he has been engaged in more trial cases than perhaps any other lawyer of his age in the State.

He has become intimately familiar with politics, owing to his office as deputy district attorney. He is already one of the most active political workers and is consulted on all important party matters. He has already been mentioned for public office. He belongs to the local bar association, and is alive to all that happens in the profession.

While at college he was a member of the various student societies. He still maintains his college affiliations, and belongs to the Alumni Society.

Transcribed by Betty Vickroy.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 706, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

California Biography Project

San Francisco County

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