Well-known Mathews attorney F. Paul Blanock will end his private law practice in the county at the end of this month after representing clients here since 1961.

His retirement isn’t quite complete, however, as he announced he will serve as Assistant Commissioner of Accounts for Mathews through 2013 to assist Dawne Alexander as the new commissioner. He was first appointed Commissioner of Accounts in 1968. The Commissioner of Accounts handles final estate records for deceased individuals.

As it is, Blanock, 81, has already retired once, having stepped down in the fall of 1991 as the Mathews Commonwealth’s Attorney after almost 28 years’ service.

With a wife and three children to support, Blanock said, "I had to have three jobs." The Commonwealth’s Attorney and Commissioner of Accounts were part-time jobs, Blanock said, and he also has had a general law practice in Mathews since 1961.

Blanock described himself as "a jack of all trades." In a smaller community, he said, "you did everything."

There have been some surprises through the many years of his legal career, Blanock said, as he lost some cases he thought he should have won for his clients—and won some others he didn’t think he would.

One of the highlights of his legal career, Blanock said, was a fraud case that eventually resulted in extradition from Texas of the swindler of a local bank.

Blanock said he’s been "on both sides," having represented the state in prosecuting cases as Commonwealth’s Attorney and then being on the other side to defend clients in his private practice.

His law practice included all types of cases, he said, and there were some cases he chose not to accept for various reasons.

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