Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

Because the library is not open to the general public, researchers should contact the library to arrange access to the collection.

Preferred Citation

Chief Justice Leroy Hassell's Annual State of the Judiciary Message, 2007-2010. Accession number 00029176, Supreme Court of Virginia Archives, Virginia State Law Library, Richmond, Va.

Acquisition Information

The recordings were transferred to the Virginia State Law Library from the Office of the Executive Secretary April 23, 2012.

Alternative Form Available

Transcripts of Chief Justice Hassell's annual state of the judiciary messages are published in the annual state of the judiciary reports, available electronically through the Library of Virginia catalog.

Biographical/Historical Information

Leroy Rountree Hassell, Jr. (1955-2011) was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia from 2003 to 2011. He was appointed to the court in 1989. Hassell was the first African American elected chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia.

The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia delivers an annual state of the judiciary message each May at the Virginia Judiciary Conference.

Scope and Content

Contains video recordings of Hassell's annual message, delivered at the Virginia Judiciary Conferences in Roanoke, 2007; Williamsburg, 2008; Roanoke, 2009 May 11-13; and Norfolk, 2010 May 10-12.

Hassell discusses magistrate system reforms, the Commission on Mental Law Reform and efforts to reform mental health laws, the Judicial Performance Evaluation Program and opposition to it in the General Assembly; improvements in information technology, including e-filing and case imaging and management systems, Drug Treatment courts, the impact of the aging population on the courts, the Commission on Courts in the 21st Century, emergency preparedness planning (Pandemic Flue Preparedness Commission), effects of state budget cuts on the judiciary branch, making legal services more accessible to the poor, and increasing diversity in the judicial branch. He also notes anniversaries important in the history of the racial integration of the judicial branch in the twentieth century.

In the 2010 message, Hassell concludes his remarks with recollections of growing up in Norfolk, his mentors and influences, including Judge James Benton, Norfolk lawyer Joseph Jordan, and Supreme Court of Virginia justice John Charles Thomas; and reflections on his accomplishments during his eight years as chief justice.

Index Terms

• African American judges.
• Courts -- Virginia -- 21st century.
• Hassell, Leroy Rountree, 1955-2011.
• Judges -- Virginia -- 21st century.
• Judges -- Virginia -- Biography.
• Judicial Conference of Virginia.
• Speeches -- Virginia -- 21st century.
• Virginia -- Politics and government -- 21st century.
• Virginia. Supreme Court.