Beach city attorney in running for judgeship

VIRGINIA BEACH

Longtime City Attorney Les Lilley is a candidate for a soon-to-be-open judgeship.

Lilley, in his 19th year as the city attorney, is among a handful of lawyers in the running for a Virginia Beach Circuit Court seat, he confirmed Monday. Judge Thomas Shadrick is retiring April 1.

Lilley said he told the City Council he intended to seek the post before he submitted his name for consideration.

This is the first time he's gone after a judgeship.

"I don't want to stand in his way, because I think he'd make a wonderful judge," Mayor Meyera Oberndorf said. "Do I want to lose him?... No, I would prefer to have him where he is."

"I think the world of the man. His authority is absolutely unimpeachable."

It is still early in the process to replace Shadrick, and Lilley is one of five candidates "highly recommended" by the Virginia Beach Bar Association.

The lawyers group sent its recommendations to each member of Virginia Beach's General Assembly delegation last month, according to a copy of the letter obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The five candidates "highly recommended" were Lilley; Glen Huff, president and founder of a local law firm; Ken Geroe, former head of the city's Democratic organization and former vice chairman of the state party; General District Court Judge Gene Woolard; and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge Winship Tower.

The Virginia Women Attorneys Association also ranked Huff, Lilley and Tower as "highly recommended," according to a letter provided by Ellen C. Carlson, chairwoman of the association's judicial screening committee. Carlson's group made its recommendations last week.

"There are some very, very qualified candidates," Geroe said Monday. "We ought to come out with a good judge."

State Sen. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, said a citizens panel interviewed candidates this past weekend.

Their evaluations will be shared with the members of the Beach delegation, which will probably then decide on a handful of finalists to interview in Richmond, Stolle said.

Both houses of the General Assembly will vote to appoint judges before the current term ends next month.

Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com