BREAKING

Chief justice of the Virginia Supreme Court is stepping down; his successor is named

MARK BOWES Richmond Times-Dispatch | 21 hrs ago

Donald W. Lemons will step down as chief justice of the Virginia Supreme Court effective Dec. 31, and his colleagues have elected Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn to succeed him on Jan. 1, the court announced Monday.

Lemons, 72, a former Richmond lawyer and judge, has served as chief justice for six years. He was first elected to the position by his fellow justices on Aug. 18, 2014, to a four-year term that began Jan. 1, 2015.

Lemons was elected to the state Supreme Court in 2000 for a 12-year term. His current term expires on March 15, 2024. The court’s announcement did not say why Lemons was stepping down as its 26th chief justice, but the mandatory retirement age for judges and justices in Virginia is 73.

He has served at every level of the court system in Virginia.

From 1971 to 1973 — after college and before law school — he was a probation officer for the Fairfax County Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court. From 1976 to 1978, he was an assistant dean and assistant professor at the University of Virginia School of Law from which he had just graduated.

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Goodwyn, 60, will assume the office of chief justice at the beginning of the new year. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Timothy Kaine in 2007 and was unanimously elected by the General Assembly to the court in 2008 and re-elected in 2020.

Goodwyn is the second African-American to serve as chief justice. Leroy Hassell Sr. was the first, serving two, four-year terms from 2003 to 2011.

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