October 11, 2013

Listen to an audio recording of an oral history interview with John Thomas (“Jack”) Bruce, Chief Staff Attorney, Supreme Court of Virginia, 1978-2003, interviewed by Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Professor of History at Norfolk State University, October 11, 2013, at the Supreme Court Building in Richmond. Transcript below.

Bruce recalls his childhood in Norfolk, his family and his education at the College of William & Mary and the University of Richmond, and his career in the Office of the Chief Staff Attorney, first as a law clerk, and as Chief Staff Attorney beginning in 1978. He discusses working with his predecessor Robert Irons, Special Assistant to the Supreme Court of Virginia until his sudden death in 1978; Chief Justice Harry Carrico, Justice A. Christian Compton, and Justice Richard H. Poff, all of whom were based in Richmond, and changes he witnessed during his career.

Transcript: