Judge Haley '64 Retiring from Virginia Court of Appeals
Washington and Lee alumnus James W. Haley Jr., a member of the Class of 1964, will step down from the Virginia Court of Appeals in March after seven years.
The Virginia General Assembly appointed him to a vacancy on the appeals court in 2005. He had been a judge on the Stafford Circuit Court for 15 years at the time of his appointment. Jim would have had to leave the court in September because all Virginia judges must retire when they reach age 70. But, as he told the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, he is retiring early in order to allow the General Assembly to appoint his successor during its current session.
After W&L, Jim received his law degree from the University of Virginia law school. He clerked for Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice John Eggeston and was both a commonwealth’s attorney and a general district court judge in King George County.
When he was sworn in to the Court of Appeals in March 2005, Jim told the gathering at Fredericksburg Circuit Court: “I believe the rule of law is the mark of civilization. All are equal before the law.”
