VBA endorses four for Supreme Court

The Virginia Bar Association has recommended Virginia Court of Appeals Judges D. Arthur Kelsey and Elizabeth A. McClanahan and Circuit Judges Pamela S. Baskervill and Joseph W. Milam Jr. for the vacancy on the Supreme Court of Virginia that will be created next year by the retirement of Judge Lawrence L. Koontz Jr.

The VBA made the recommendations in a letter to Del. David B. Albo and Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, chairmen of the Courts of Justice Committees in the General Assembly. Albo and Marsh had asked statewide bar groups to evaluate candidates for the seat.

As we mentioned in an article in VLW, 10 persons submitted their names for consideration. The Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys submitted their list to Albo and Marsh last week.

Still to report are such organizations as the Virginia State Bar and the Virginia Women Attorneys Association, which interview candidates before submitting their recommendations. The VSB and the VWAA are scheduled to conduct their interviews Dec. 8 along with other bar groups.

The VBA and the VADA are among the groups that do not interview candidates but instead make their recommendations on the basis of written materials and a background investigation.