A lawyer with deep family and political roots in Chesterfield County is changing his mind and giving up a county judgeship to which he was named last month.
John V. Cogbill III, who has two Army-officer sons scheduled for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, recently told lawmakers he would decline a circuit court judgeship, in part, because of family reasons.
"I have concluded that the bar, the court and the Chesterfield community will be better served if I remain a practicing lawyer and someone else fills the vacancy that now exists on the court," Cogbill said in a prepared statement yesterday.
Cogbill's forebears include a grandfather and great-grandfather who were circuit court clerks. Cogbill also is related to one of the county's longtime judges, now retired.
Cogbill, a real estate lawyer and partner at legal powerhouse McGuireWoods, was elected by the General Assembly in February to the judgeship vacated by Cleo E. Powell, who was appointed to the Virginia Court of Appeals.
Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, whose family's property-development firm has been represented by Cogbill, said the lawyer told him his intentions in a private meeting about 10 days ago.
Watkins said it is possible the assembly will attempt to fill the seat when it returns to Richmond next week to act on gubernatorial vetoes of, and revisions to, legislature passed this winter.
If lawmakers fail to act on the judgeship, the Chesterfield slot could be filled by an appointee of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat whose term ends in January.
Watkins said there are at least five prospects for the seat that might be considered by the legislature.
They are Harold W. "Chip" Burgess Jr. and Lynn S. Brice, both juvenile and domestic-relations district judges; Steven C. McCallum, a substitute judge and partner at McGuireWoods; defense attorney D. Gregory Carr, and James J. O'Connell III, an assistant prosecutor in Chesterfield.
Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com.
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