Elizabeth Bermingham Lacy, January 4, 1989-August 16, 2007; Senior Justice, 2007-2019

Portrait of Elizabeth Lacy.

Oil on canvas, by Jean Garver; presented to the court on November 2, 2011. Location: courtroom, rear.

Born 1945 in Parris Island, South Carolina.

Appointed by Governor Gerald L. Baliles on January 1, 1989 to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Richard H. Poff and began her service on January 4, 1989. First elected by the General Assembly on January 19, 1989, to a 12-year term beginning February 1, 1989. Service terminated by retirement.

Education:

Saint Mary’s College (Notre Dame, Indiana), B.A., 1966.
University of Texas, J.D., 1969.
University of Virginia, LL.M., 1992.

Professional career:

Elementary school teacher, St. Ignatius School, Austin, Texas, 1966-1967.
Staff attorney, Texas Legislative Council, 1969-1972.
Attorney, Office of the Attorney General (Texas), 1973-1976.
Legislative aide, Virginia Delegate Carrington Williams, 1976-1977.
Deputy attorney general, Judicial Affairs Division, Office of the Attorney General (Virginia), 1982-1985.
Commissioner, State Corporation Commission, 1985-1989.
Member, The McCammon Group (mediation), 2007-present.

Oral histories

Sources:

Named by Governor Baliles, R.H. Melton, “First Woman Named to Virginia High Court,” The Washington Post (1974-Current File) [Washington, D.C.], November 23, 1988: 3; appointed by Governor Baliles on January 1, 1989, biography, Women Trailblazers in the Law: Our Visions, Our Voices, a project of the American Bar Association Senior Lawyers Division, retrieved on February 6, 2014; qualified, 237 Va., iii; oath, 238 Va., vii; first elected, Journals of the Senate of Virginia, 1989 Regular Session, 136; retired and took senior status, 274 Va., iii; birth, education, and career, biography, Women Trailblazers in the Law, and transcript of portrait presentation on November 2, 2011, published in 282 Va., liii. Lacy has continued to serve the court as a senior justice (retired), from 2007-present.

Peter Wallenstein, “‘These New and Strange Beings’: Women in the Legal Profession in Virginia, 1890-1990,” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 101, No. 2 (Apr. 1993), pp. 193-226.