Leroy R. Hassell Sr.

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Leroy Rountree Hassell, Sr. (born 1955, Norfolk, Virginia) is the first African American chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia, currently completing his second four-year term in that office. Chief Justice Hassell is the most senior member of the Court, although his position as Chief Justice is the result of election by the Justices, and not seniority, as was previously the case prior to a change in the law. A 1973 graduate of Norview High School of Norfolk, Virginia, where he was voted "most likely to succeed," he is the fifth of six children. Both his parents were educators. His father, who died three months before Hassell was appointed to the Supreme Court, was an assistant high school principal. His mother was an elementary-school teacher and, later in her career, a school social worker. Hassell graduated in 1977 from the University of Virginia, where he won a Scholar of the Year award and was selected to live on the Lawn, an honor recognizing student leadership and achievement. Three years later, he graduated from Harvard Law School. He served there as a recruiter in the admissions office and worked on the Civil Liberties Law Review. After law school, Hassell joined the law firm of McGuire, Woods, Battle and Boothe, the second largest law firm based in Virginia and one of the largest in the country. At the law firm, he specialized in commercial and professional liability litigation and was co-counsel to the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Hassell also served as chairman of the Richmond School Board. He currently serves on the Board of Visitors of the Regent University School of Law.

Gov. Gerald L. Baliles appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1989. Hassell succeeded Justice John Charles Thomas, the first black to serve on the court, when Thomas resigned for health reasons after 6½ years as a justice.