Supreme Court of Virginia Historical Advisory Committee.

The Supreme Court of Virginia Historical Advisory Committee (formerly Commission) was established in 2006 to preserve and promote the history of the court. Oral history interviews of retired Supreme Court justices, Court of Appeals judges, other individuals associated with the court, and civil rights attorneys were begun in 2007. The project is ongoing.

Justice Harry Lee Carrico (b. 1916) was appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia in 1961 and was chief justice from 1981-2003. Before joining the court, he was a lawyer and judge in Fairfax County. He was an ensign in the he navy during World War II. Carrico was born in Washington D.C. and reared in rural Fauquier and Fairfax counties.

Justice George M. Cochran (1912-2011) served on the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1969-1987. A lifelong resident of Staunton, he was a member of the House of Delegates from 1948 to 1966 and the Virginia Senate from 1966 to 1968.

Barbara M. Keenan (b. 1950) served on the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1991 to 2010, when she was confirmed as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She was a judge on the Court of Appeals of Virginia from 1985 to 1991. She was the first woman to serve as a circuit and appellate court judge in Virginia.

Justice Lawrence L. Koontz, Jr. (b. 1940) served as justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1995 to 2011, when he took senior status. He was one ten judges who served on the first Court of Appeals of Virginia in 1985 and served on the court until 1995. He was the second chief judge of the court, serving from 1985 to 1993. From 1976 to 1984, Koontz was a circuit court judge in 23rd judicial circuit in Roanoke; from 1968 to 1976, he was a juvenile and domestic relations judge in the general district court in Roanoke.

Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy (b. 1945) served as justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1989 to 2007, when she took senior status. She was the first woman to serve on the court, the first woman to serve as Deputy Attorney General in Virginia, and the first woman to serve as a judge on the State Corporation Commission. Lacy was born in South Carolina and grew up in Wisconsin. She worked in Texas as a teacher and Assistant Attorney General and Division Chief (1972-1976) before moving to Virginia. She was Virginia Deputy Attorney General, overseeing all civil litigation, from 1982-1985; and Judge, Virginia State Corporation Commission, 1985-1989.

Justice Charles S. Russell (b. 1926) served on the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1982-1991. He returned to the court as a senior justice in 2004.Russell practiced law in Arlington and Fairfax from 1951 to 1967 and was appointed judge for the 17th Judicial District in 1967. From 1967 to 1982, Russell was a circuit court judge in Fairfax County. Russell was born in Richmond. He served in the U.S. Navy in World II and the Korean War.

Justice Roscoe B. Stephenson (1922-2011) served on the Supreme Court of Virginia as justice from 1981 to 1997, when he took senior status. A lifelong resident of Covington, Va., Stephenson practiced law in Covington and was Alleghany County Commonwealth's Attorney and a judge on the 25th judicial circuit before his appointment to the Supreme Court.

Justice John Charles Thomas (b. 1950) served on the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1983-1989. A native of Norfolk, Thomas graduated from the University of Virginia law school in 1975 and worked at Hunton & Williams law form in Richmond, where he became the first African American to be named partner in a large law firm in the South. When Thomas resigned from the Supreme Court in 1989, he returned to private practice at Hunton & Williams.

Justice W. Carrington (William Carrington) Thompson (1915-2011) served on the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1980-1983. A native of Chatham, Virginia, he established a law practice there after returning from service in the navy during World War II. Thompson served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1959 to 1968 and the Virginia State Senate from 1968-1973. He was a circuit judge before his appointment to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Justice Henry H. Whiting (1923-) served on the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1987 to 1995, when he took senior status. Whiting was born in Fort Logan, Colorado, and spent most of his youth in Winchester, Virginia. He attended Virginia Tech for one year before enlisting in the U.S. Army during World War II. After the war, he attended the University of Virginia and earned a law degree there in 1949. He practiced law in Winchester, Virginia, for much of his career. In 1980, Whiting was appointed to the 28th Judicial Circuit by Governor John Dalton; in 1987, he was elected by the General Assembly to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

From the guide to the Supreme Court of Virginia Oral History Interviews, 2007-, (Supreme Court of Virginia Archives, Virginia State Law Library)