Lawyer/legislators: Trial attorneys set to lead Virginia General Assembly
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After nearly 30 years, both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly will be led by trial lawyers, namely Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) and Del. Don Scott (D-Portsmouth).
Surovell and Scott recently spoke with Virginia Lawyers Weekly about their approach to leadership as trial attorneys, as well as their goals and priorities, including filling vacancies in Virginia courts and the State Corporation Commission and criminal justice reform.
History of leadership
Scott
Since 2005 less than one-third of Virginia’s 140 legislators have been attorneys. In the 2024 session, 28 delegates and 11 senators are attorneys.
“Attorneys used to make up almost 80% of the assembly,” Surovell noted. “I think there’s a real misperception out there that the legislature is full of lawyers. A lot of the lawyers who serve in the legislature don’t actually practice law.”
Still, attorneys often find themselves in leadership positions. Senate leadership has traded since 1996 between criminal defense attorney Sen. Thomas Norment (R-Williamsburg) and Sen. Richard Saslaw (D-Alexandria), a businessman.
Prior to prosecutor Del. Todd Gilbert’s (R-Page/Shenandoah) tenure as House Speaker between 2020 and 2022, Del. William J. Howell, a wills and trusts attorney, held the office from 2003 to 2018.
Judges needed
With the pending retirement of Judge Robert J. Humphreys, the Virginia State Bar has been vetting candidates to fill his seat on the Court of Appeals of Virginia. Surovell, who is the chair-designate of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also anticipates a second vacancy with another judge reaching the maximum age for service.
In a Dec. 11 letter to several bar associations around the commonwealth, Surovell requested the VSB reopen the appeals court application process. Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington), Surovell’s counterpart in the House Courts of Justice Committee, joined the letter.
“It’s important that we do as much public vetting and transparency as possible as we choose judges for these courts,” Surovell said. “We’re specifically looking to have more specialty and minority bars involved.”
Surovell also looks forward to electing judges for open and new seats in circuit and district courts. According to the Judicial Council, there are currently nine open seats in circuit courts, 10 in the general district courts and seven in juvenile and domestic relations courts.
“It’s important that we do as much public vetting and transparency as possible as we choose judges for these courts. We’re specifically looking to have more specialty and minority bars involved.”
— Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax)
The Judicial Council recommended additional judgeships for the First, Ninth, 15th and 25th circuits. Meanwhile, the Committee on District Courts requested additional juvenile and domestic relations judges for the 20th and 31st districts.
Surovell blamed changes to judicial retirement for altering the incentive for attorneys to become judges late in their career.
“It was a huge mistake,” he said. “The original idea was to get older lawyers with lots of experience, seniority and wisdom to become judges.”
He said that only a younger judge could expect a fully vested retirement under the current system.
“There was some concern 10 years ago amongst non-lawyers that the system was too generous, so they changed it,” Surovell explained.
A joint session of the Senate and House will conduct judicial interviews on Dec. 15.
SCC vacancies
Filling open seats on the State Corporation Commission, or SCC, will be a priority for the upcoming session, according to Surovell. In fact, the Virginia State Bar announced a Jan. 5, 2024 deadline for SCC applicants.
Created by the Virginia constitution, the SCC acts as a licensing entity and oversees utilities, insurance and banking. Since 2022, the General Assembly has been unable to fill two seats since the House refused to elect Commissioner Angela Navarro.
Scott doesn’t plan to be a similar barrier in the House.
“We want to make the process as easy as possible to run a business here in the Commonwealth,” he said. “We will do our due diligence and ensure that Virginia can once again be named the number one state to do business.”
Focus on reform
Surovell and Scott both have been involved with criminal justice reform throughout their legislative careers.
Surovell, who is vice-chair of the Virginia State Crime Commission, highlighted its ongoing study about the expungement and sealing of criminal records. He plans to address ambiguity in the expungement statute during the 2024 session.
“Above anything else, I want to make sure that we have a justice system that is equitable and fair to every Virginian, no matter their background,” Scott told Virginia Lawyers Weekly. “We should be in the business of creating a Virginia that is the best place possible to live, work, and raise a family.”
As House speaker, Scott intends to mitigate voter disenfranchisement by taking away the governor’s right to determine whether formerly incarcerated people can vote again. He supports amending the state constitution to allow automatic restoration of rights after a sentence is complete.
In other justice reform matters, Surovell was chief patron of SB 1339, which established a process for automatically sealing dismissed criminal charges. Scott, meanwhile, patroned the identical HB 2113. The reform bill was passed in 2021 but will not be effective until 2025.
“The state had to spend $25 million to rebuild its entire criminal history architecture to make the case data system work efficiently without spending hundreds of millions of dollars of manpower costs to accomplish,” Surovell said. “That’s the holdup.”
He added that, “relative to the amount of economic value it’s going to bring the people it benefits,” the investment in the system was “incredibly affordable.”
‘A different approach’
Surovell told Virginia Lawyers Weekly that lawyers bring a different approach to policy problems in terms of how they are viewed and resolved.
“We have an acute understanding of the consequences of laws and how the justice system can affect people based on the things that we do in the capitol building every day,” he explained.
Scott agreed, adding that he was proud to be among the long history of lawyer-legislators. The General Assembly will be “fair, thorough and open to debate” with two trial attorneys in charge.
“We’re used to stating our position and finding a consensus at the end of the day,” he said. “When we present a case — whether it’s in front of a judge or a jury, or we’re advocating for our clients — we have to bring fact-based evidence, witnesses and ensure that we explain our position until there is no possible room for doubt.”
As with settlement discussions between opposing attorneys, Scott approaches the legislative process with the understanding that there are some non-negotiables and some negotiables.
“In short, what you go in with may not be what you end up with at the end because each case is different and is the result of compromise,” he noted.
Scott plans to bring that same philosophy to the House of Delegates to “ensure that we fully understand the issues that matter the most to the people of the Commonwealth and how best we can address them.”
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