In 1938, he won an oratorical contest on the American Negro's constitutional rights, sponsored by the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World.
Waddy remained in private practice in Washington, D.C., from 1939 to 1962, except from 1944 to 1946, when he served in the United States Army, rising to the rank of staff sergeant.
Waddy served on the Citizens Advisory Council to the District of Columbia Commissioners from 1958 to 1962, and as an adjunct professor at the Howard University School of Law from 1966 to 1967.
[2] Several cases which Waddy handled improved education in local schools (although he once was forced to hold the mayor in contempt of court), liberalizing abortion restrictions, and speeding the city's process for reissuing lost or stolen welfare checks.
The order was the result of a lawsuit filed Sept. 6, 1972, by Common Cause, the “citizens' lobby.” The judge told the finance committee to release the information by Sept. 28.