People FOCUS
Chris J. Roy Sr.

By Holly Jo Linzay

Ever since he was a little boy, Chris J. Roy, Sr. knew he wanted to become a lawyer. Not only did he accomplish his childhood dream, but Roy has made a significant impact in the Louisiana political realm. Recently, Roy was appointed by order of the Louisiana Supreme Court to serve as an ad hoc justice on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. “I consider it a great honor,” Roy says of the appointment. He will fill the judicial seat for retiring Judge Glenn Gremillion until a permanent judge is sworn in after the special election in November.

Judge Roy grew up in Marksville. His father, Anthony J. Roy, was a lawyer and became his mentor. His mother, Elmire, was a school teacher. Besides practicing law, his father served as the vice president of the Cottonport Bank and raised cattle. During his years at Marksville High School, Roy participated in every civic club and sports team the school offered before graduating in 1954. Immediately following graduation, he enrolled in summer courses at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where he majored in political science.

At LSU, he joined the ROTC and had to live in the stadium for one year. During that time, he became the ROTC boxing champ. “After a match, you felt like you couldn’t even raise your gloves,” Roy recalls with a laugh, adding the gloves weighed 16 ounces each. For two years, he remained in the ROTC, but in 1957, he joined the Louisiana National Guard. During the semesters at LSU, he sold life insurance and in the summers, he worked in a program improving Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks. His senior year, Roy was elected president of the LSU law school senior class. In addition, he served as the president of the Kappa Sigma fraternity his senior year. Because of his hard work and extra course load, Roy earned both his bachelor’s degree and law degree from LSU in 1959. “But I didn’t get to go to my commencement. I had to report for basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina,” Roy recalls.

During the same year, Roy was admitted to practice law in Louisiana, the U.S. District Court, Fifth and Eleventh Circuits and the U.S. Supreme Court. By 1960, he was earning $623 a month working as the first deputy clerk for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Lake Charles. “But I wanted to practice law. So, I took a cut in pay and made $425 a month to practice law in Lake Charles,” Roy explains about his early days in the law profession. In addition to his law career, Roy continued to serve in the military. In 1962, he received a commission as a second lieutenant in the infantry; and in 1963, he was among the first class of Officer Candidate School graduates at Camp Beauguard.

Later that year, Roy got married, and welcomed first son, Chris Roy, Jr. Eventually, Roy moved his family to Marksville to practice law with his father, and brother, A.J. “Sookie” Roy, a district attorney. By 1965, Roy decided to join the Green Berets and trained as a paratrooper. He earned “his wings” and advanced to first lieutenant in 1968. “Every third month, we had to do a jump. I especially remember one jump at the Crawfish Festival. We jumped to entertain the crowd,” Roy recalls.

Roy was still practicing law, but that same year, he went to Officer’s Training School at Fort Benning, Georgia for 10 weeks, where he earned his captain’s bars during the time of the Vietnam War. After serving 11 years in the National Guard, Roy retired as a captain in 1969.

In 1970, Roy moved to Alexandria and became a full partner in a law practice with Camille Gravel. He became a delegate and vice chairman for the Louisiana Constitutional Convention in 1973. “I was on the Declaration of Rights committee. We reduced the constitution down. We took the Louisiana 1921 Constitution and all its amendments through 1972, and reduced it down. It took a year, and we got paid $50 a day,” Roy recalls. On the day he had to fill in for the chairman, a crucial vote was stalled in a tie, and as the acting chairman, Roy had to cast the tie-breaking vote. As a result of that vote, the judicial retirement system was taken out of the state constitution and put into statutory law. That tie vote was the only one during the convention, and it was a moment in time that Roy said he will never forget. “When I had to vote, the people’s faces changed. It was just like something out of a movie,” Roy says, adding that today the judges do have a “great retirement” system in place.

By the mid-‘80s, Roy left his partners to establish the Chris J. Roy, Sr. firm, his own law practice. At that time, his son, Chris Jr., joined his firm, which was located on Washington Street in Alexandria. After some time, Chris Jr. would follow in his father’s footsteps by venturing out to establish his own firm; and about five years later, Roy relocated his law firm to Gus Kaplan Drive.

It was during the ‘80s that Roy won a landmark case against Honda in regards to a three-wheeler ATV accident. The case, the first of its kind to be won in appeals, set a legal precedent. Following that case, Roy went on to win a similar court case involving all-terrain vehicles. Later, he co-authored a book entitled, “Win ATV Cases.” Roy served as City Attorney in Alexandria in 1983. In addition, he served as judge pro tempore of the City Court of Marksville in 1996 and of the City Court of Alexandria in 2002.

Besides serving as a Board of Trustees member for the Paul M. Hebert Law Center, LSU, from 2001-2005, Roy has held several other civic involvement positions including: chairman of the Rapides Parish Airport Authority from 1982-1983; the attorney for Red River, Atchafalaya and Bayou Boeuf Levee Districts; a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers and a member of the Melvin Belli Society. A recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the 2005 Causidicus Award, Roy has been an active member of many law-related organizations. He has served as president of the Alexandria Bar Association from 1980-1981 and served as chairman for the La. State Bar Association, Bill of Rights Section, from 1988-1996. He was president of the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association in 1978 and is an active member of the Association of Trial Lawyers, CODOFIL and the Louisiana Music Commission.

Roy, who has eight grandchildren, has five sons: State Rep. Chris, Jr., Michael, Richard, Robert and Jacques, the current mayor of Alexandria. A self-described “real civil rights person,” Roy looks quite at ease wearing the black judicial robe seated behind his big mahogany desk in his office. He recently moved the Chris J. Roy, Sr. law firm to its new location on Jackson Street in Alexandria. Roy explains that his hometown is a city “on the move” and is looking forward to the coming months serving as judge pro tempore for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal. "I love it. Right now, I am reading 16 writs. And I love this opportunity.”