The Virginia Bar Association has “highly recommended” six candidates for a pending vacancy on the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Chief Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn has announced that he will step down from the court at the end of this year. The VBA’s Committee on Nominations to Virginia Commissions & Appellate Courts reviewed applications last week. The committee backed the following candidates, in alphabetical order:

• The Hon. Doris Henderson Causey, Court of Appeals
• The Hon. Junius P. Fulton III, Court of Appeals
• The Hon. David W. Lannetti, Norfolk Circuit Court
• The Hon. Lisa M. Lorish, Court of Appeals
• The Hon. Mary B. Malveaux, Court of Appeals
• The Hon. Daniel E. Ortiz, Court of Appeals

Sen. Scott A. Surovell and Del. Patrick A. Hope, the respective chairs of the Senate and House Courts of Justice committees, in February wrote to statewide bars, including the VBA, asking for possible recommendations to the Court of Appeals, should the General Assembly elect a sitting appeals court judge to the high court.

The committee also reviewed candidates for this possible opening and made one recommendation: The group “highly recommended” Lannetti for the appeals court should one of that court’s judges be tapped for the Supreme Court.