VBA To Honor Chief Justice Goodwyn With Highest Award

Longtime jurist has advocated for equal access to justice for decades

The Virginia Bar Association will bestow its highest honor on Chief Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Goodwyn will receive the Gerald L. Baliles Distinguished Service Award at the VBA’s 135th Annual Meeting in January.

The VBA gives the award in recognition and appreciation of exceptional service and contributions to the bar and public at large. Goodwyn has served on the bench for nearly three decades and as chief justice for the past two years.

“Chief Justice Goodwyn exemplifies the values that this award is designed to honor,” VBA President W. Ryan Snow said. “He is a humble but giant force for good in Virginia, and he has been a strong leader in the push for pro bono service and equal access to justice for decades.”

Goodwyn, who joined the VBA in 1993, presided over this year’s Chief Justice’s Pro Bono Summit, a biennial event organized by the VBA Pro Bono Council to celebrate advances in access and to address continuing needs. He is the former longtime co-chair of the Virginia Access to Justice Commission, a group created by the Supreme Court 10 years ago.

“When you are sitting in that courtroom [as judge], you can make sure that everybody in that courtroom gets treated fairly. That’s your job,” Goodwyn told Virginia Lawyer in a 2022 interview. “What better role is there than to make sure that people get treated fairly, right?”

The chief justice’s colleagues chose him for that leadership role in 2022. He succeeded Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons, also a recipient of the VBA’s highest honor.

Goodwyn joined the Supreme Court of Virginia in 2007 upon the retirement of Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy. He was appointed by then-Gov. Tim Kaine and later by election of the General Assembly. Goodwyn was reappointed to a 12-year term on the court in 2020.

A native of Southampton County, Goodwyn graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and the University of Virginia School of Law. In law school his honor, character and integrity were apparent; he received one of four inaugural Ritter Prizes after nominations lauding those characteristics from students, faculty, staff and alumni. Even in high school, his classmates named the football quarterback, student body president and valedictorian “most likely to succeed,” according to published articles.

In the 2022 Virginia Lawyer interview, Goodwyn is quoted as saying, “To me, with every opportunity, there was an obligation to do my best because I knew people had sacrificed to provide that opportunity for me. It wouldn’t be any different, no matter what I was doing. If you’re going to do something, why wouldn’t you just do the best you can?”

After law school Goodwyn worked in private practice in Charlottesville and Norfolk for nine years. He was elected to the bench in 1995, serving in Chesapeake General District Court. Two years later he became a judge in the First Judicial Circuit, where he served until joining the Supreme Court.

The VBA created the Gerald L. Baliles Distinguished Service Award in 1988. The first recipient was Lewis F. Powell Jr., who later served 15 years as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Since its inception 36 years ago, the award has been given just 19 times, including in 2001 to former Virginia Gov. Baliles. Seven years later, the VBA renamed this honor in tribute to Baliles.

In addition to Baliles and Lemons, previous recipients of the Baliles Distinguished Service Award include former Govs. A. Linwood Holton Jr. and L. Douglas Wilder, Dean Emerson G. Spies and longtime UVA law professor A.E. Dick Howard.