Portsmouth city attorney to serve as circuit court judge beginning in 2026
PORTSMOUTH — City Attorney Lavonda Graham-Williams will leave her role with the city later this year to serve as a newly appointed Portsmouth Circuit Court judge in January.
Graham-Williams said she plans to remain in her role through December unless the City Council opts to replace her before then. She called the judicial appointment the 'pinnacle step' in a litigator's career.
'I'm honored to continue to serve the city. It's my hometown. It's where I got my legal beginnings,' Graham-Williams said. 'It's bittersweet because there's a lot more work to do with the city, of course, and serving as city attorney has always been one of my biggest career accomplishments.'
Graham-Williams returned from Washington, D.C. to her hometown of Portsmouth in 2022 to take on the role of city attorney. Mayor Shannon Glover said she was the first Black woman to permanently hold that role for the city.
Her departure leaves an important vacancy for the city. City attorneys are among the handful of positions appointed by council members. Glover said council will discuss next steps following Graham-Williams' performance review this summer. That could mean a formal search, though Graham-Williams said she hopes council considers an internal hire and appoints someone in her office for the role.
'We will come out of that discussion probably with next steps in order to get a solicitation together, perhaps, to begin the process of filling the job because we don't want to wait 'til the last minute,' Glover said. 'It's hard to replace someone that has her knowledge of the law and that really has worked hard with her team to build the confidence and credibility that has allowed us to be very successful at litigating a number of big cases that could have potentially cost the city dollars.'
The day-to-day duties of the office include ensuring the city's compliance with state and federal laws and regulations and defending the city in litigation.
Graham-Williams said she was honored to also be among the first Black women appointed to serve as Portsmouth Circuit Court judge.
She's a graduate of I. C. Norcom High School and George Washington University, and she earned a law degree from the College of William & Mary. In addition to her time as city attorney, Graham-Williams has spent time on both the prosecutorial and defense sides of the courtroom. She oversaw cases involving juveniles at the Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office. She also opened a firm in Northern Virginia focused on those with special needs.
Graham-Williams has led the city through a number of high-profile lawsuits, particularly from former employees like former City Manager Angel Jones and former Portsmouth City Assessor Patrick Dorris. She also led the efforts to acquire the Hampton Roads Regional Jail and transition it for use as a city jail, and she represents the city on the Southeastern Public Service Authority board that oversees some of the region's waste disposal.
Graham-Williams also highlighted efforts to research, preserve and recognize historically Black and neglected areas of the city, such as the Sugar Hill neighborhood in Pinners Point, the Bernard D. Griffin Sr. Park and Lincoln Memorial Cemetery.
But among her biggest accomplishments, she said, was bringing calm to the chaos in Portsmouth.
'(A) laundry list of things like the grants that we got from Main Street and the violence intervention grants … We weren't able to do that unless the city and the city leadership were able to work together through whatever disputes,' she said. 'And I think our office played a role in creating that kind of diplomacy through some tough times and through some great times.'
Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com
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