Remembrances of Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell, Sr., May-August, 2011

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia State Law Library, Supreme Court of Virginia
Virginia State Law Library
Supreme Court of Virginia
100 North Ninth Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Ashley Vavra, Librarian-Archivist
Phone: (804) 225-2739
Phone: (804) 786-2075

Summary

Creator:
Virginia. Supreme Court.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains video recordings of judges' personal remembrances of Chief Justice Hassell, recorded at the Virginia Judicial Conference of Virginia in Roanoke, Virginia, in May 2011 and the Virginia Judicial Conference for District Court Judges in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in August 2011. Two additional interviews were recorded at the Supreme Court Building in Richmond in June 2011. Transcript available.

F. Bruce Bach, retired circuit court judge, Fairfax County (5 minutes, 19 seconds), recorded in Roanoke. Bach worked with Hassell in 2005, when he served as interim executive secretary, or court administrator.

Rufus Banks, Jr., chief judge, juvenile and domestic relations court, Chesapeake (1 minute, 10 seconds), recorded in Virginia Beach.

Stephen D. Benjamin, Richmond defense lawyer (9 minutes, 34 seconds), recorded in Richmond. Benjamin talks about working with Hassell on an initiative to improve training and support for court-appointed defense attorneys.

D. Eugene Cheek, judge, general district court, Richmond (1 minute, 51 seconds), recorded in Virginia Beach.

Roxie O. Holder, judge, general district court, Portsmouth (53 seconds), recorded in Virginia Beach.

Birdie H. Jamison, judge, general district court, Richmond (1 minute, 7 seconds), recorded in Virginia Beach.

H. Thomas Padrick, Jr., judge, circuit court, Virginia Beach (8 minutes, 7 seconds), recorded in Roanoke. Padrick and Hassell served together on the Committee on District Courts.

Cleo E. Powell, judge, Court of Appeals of Virginia (5 minutes), recorded in Richmond. Powell met Hassell when they were both students at the University of Virginia in the 1970s.

Angela Roberts, judge, juvenile and domestic relations court, Richmond (4 minutes, 11 seconds), recorded in Virginia Beach.

Thomas S. Shadrick, retired judge, circuit court, Virginia Beach (4 minutes), recorded in Roanoke. Shadrick talks about Hassell's work mentoring children in the Virginia Beach school system.

Phillip Trompeter, judge, juvenile and domestic relations court, Roanoke. Trompeter served with Hassell on the Committee on District Courts, recorded in Virginia Beach.

Biographical / historical:

Leroy Rountree Hassell, Sr. (1955-2011) was appointed to the Supreme Court of Virginia in 1989. He was elected to a four-year term as Chief Justice in 2003 and reelected in 2007 and served until his death in February 2011. He was born in Norfolk and earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and a JD from Harvard University. Hassell was the first African American to serve as chief justice on the court.

Acquisition information:
Transferred to the Virginia State Law Library, August 2011.
Physical description:
11 MP4s (37 minutes, 53 seconds); 1 transcript (18 p.)