Mark Cummings is a titan in Arlington’s legal establishment. But his impact extends far beyond the courtroom.
For the combination of a stellar career coupled with significant community involvement, Cummings on Tuesday (Nov. 19) was presented with the 2024 William Winston Award.
It is the highest accolade bestowed by the Arlington County Bar Foundation, and honors another giant of the profession — the late Circuit Court Judge William Winston, who before service on the bench from 1966 to 1998 had represented Arlington in the General Assembly.
Several hundred friends and colleagues turned out for the awards luncheon, held in a packed Washington Golf & Country Club ballroom.
Joanne Alper, a retired circuit court judge, first met Cummings in the late 1970s when she was a law-firm associate and he, with a newly minted juris-doctor degree from the International School of Law, came to clerk for the firm.
Alper knew early that “a diamond” had been found.
“He did great work for us,” said Alper, herself a Winston Award recipient. “He threw himself into anything that came his way.”
Early in his legal career, Cummings represented former FBI official Mark Felt, who eventually acknowledged he had been the source dubbed “Deep Throat” providing details of the Watergate scandal to Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
In 1983, he helped establish the law firm Sher, Cummings & Ellis, which focuses on criminal-defense and personal-injury cases — and in addition to representation of clients helps the next legal generation by bringing in interns from local law schools to gain experience.
During the awards ceremony, Doris Henderson Causey, a judge on the Virginia Court of Appeals, was the first of many taking to the dais to sing the praises of the honoree.
“Mark is one of Arlington’s finest legal minds,” said Causey, a past president of the Virginia Bar Association. He also is one who is “genuinely caring about others and the rule of law,” she said.
Cummings’s impact extends far beyond the courtroom, as he “constantly demonstrates what is it to give back,” Causey said.
What is it that makes everything worthwhile for Cummings? “The respect of a thankful client after achieving success in their legal endeavor,” he said in a question-and-answer posting on his firm’s website.
The Arlington Bar Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Arlington County Bar Association, which will celebrate its centennial in 2026. The Winston Award was created in 1990 when it was first presented to its namesake.
Winston, who died in 2007, bridged multiple generations in the local legal profession. In his early years as one of four circuit court judges for Arlington and Falls Church, he worked under Judge Walter McCarthy, whose career in the Northern Virginia judiciary spanned the 1930s-70s.
When Winston retired in 1998, Alper was elected by the General Assembly to succeed him.
Cummings has been active in local legal organizations, serving as president of the Bar Association in 1990-91 and chair of the Bar Foundation in 2001-02. He also is an adjunct professor at George Mason University and is admitted to practice at the state and federal levels, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
While bestowed by an association of attorneys, the Winston Award is not limited to those in the field of law. In addition to judges such as Alper, Thomas Monroe and Paul Sheridan and legal-profession leaders like Griffin Garnett and Manny Capsalis, it also has been presented to legislators including Mary Marshall, Ed Holland and Karen Darner and to civic leaders such as Lillian Brown and John Robinson Jr.
