Because of a quirk in the Commonwealth of Virginia’s regulations, retirees are barred from practicing their profession for 30 days after their retirement date.
A just-retired teacher can’t substitute in a classroom during that month, for example. And Leyburn Mosby, who steps down as one of Lynchburg’s two Circuit Court judges after today, can’t be drafted as a temporary judge.
This gives him 30 days of free time, but Mosby has no plans to jump on a plane to someplace warmer.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said.
Which might also be a statement about his legal career. Mosby was born in Lynchburg (a descendant of the celebrated Confederate Col. John Mosby), graduated from E.C. Glass, ventured over the mountains to get his law degree from Washington & Lee, then returned to Lynchburg as a young attorney in 1964. And never left.
“In my mind, he (Mosby) and Judge (Mosby) Perrow are two of the last judges who have families that go back a couple hundred years in this area,” said local attorney Joe Sanzone. “That gives them an innate sense of the community that I think is very valuable. You want your judges to have a firm knowledge of the playing field.”
Thanks both to his longevity and the variety of cases with which he has been involved, Mosby is well acquainted not only with the Lynchburg playing field, but a lot of the players.
“I probably know a third of the jurors (in Circuit Court),” he said, “and a lot of the people involved in the cases I try. You make sure and recuse yourself if you think there might be an ethical problem, but if Mosby (Perrow) and I never tried a case involving someone we knew, we’d hardly ever try any cases.”
Mosby was a year ahead of fellow Circuit judge Perrow at Glass, and both played on the football team.
“Whoever thought we’d wind up with offices next to each other?” Mosby said.
Retirement will give Mosby a little more time for his favorite hobbies — hunting turkeys in the Central Virginia woods and researching Civil War history — but he’s also expecting a lot more bench duty as a fill-in.
“I don’t really feel ready to retire,” he said, “but in Virginia, it’s mandatory at age 70.”
Substituting is nothing new for Mosby, who did it for 27 years in a variety of courts before he was appointed full time to the Circuit Court bench in 2001.
“I probably could have become a judge before I did,” he said. “The thing was, I needed a lawyer’s salary to put my kids through college. That was before salaries were raised for judges.”
Nevertheless, Mosby said a judgeship was his life’s ambition.
“It’s something I knew I wanted back in elementary school,” he said, “and knowing that helped me. I knew I had to get good grades to get into law school, and good grades in law school to become a lawyer.”
Tom Leebrick, another local attorney, calls Mosby “one of the last of the generalists. There isn’t any kind of law he hasn’t done or seen.”
Along the way, Mosby has been involved with some of Central Virginia’s signature cases and most notable people. The Rev. Jerry Falwell was an early client, and Mosby represented the Campbell County-based Committee to Oppose Annexation in a contentious legal battle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“There’s nothing quite like speaking in the Brookville High football stadium to 500 folks with the marching band playing, and you’re the main speaker,” he said.
As a judge, Mosby found the recent cases involving Randolph College — the school’s name change and the sale of art from its museum — as among the most challenging.
For Mosby always knows that he will be around to see the long-term effects of his rulings.
“They (Mosby and Perrow) aren’t just passing through,” said Sanzone. “They have a stake in this community, and they want to keep it the same nice, friendly place it’s always been.”
In order to do that, Mosby has sometimes had to be tough. Yet Leebrick, who joined Mosby’s law firm as a young attorney, said he’s always been impressed with his mentor’s flexibility.
“It’s easy to be tough on everybody, and it’s easy to be lenient with everybody,” Leebrick said. “Leyburn has the ability to tell the difference between a need for toughness and someone who might be deserving of a little mercy.”
For that reason, Mosby has never been a fan of mandatory sentencing guidelines.
“Every case is different,” he said.
The hardest decisions for him, he added, “are the instances where I’ve had to terminate parental rights.”
In an interview earlier this week, Mosby took time to praise the courtroom staff, including bailiffs and deputies, as well as secretaries Robin Green and Mary Ann Stinnett.
“My wife, Mercedes, has always been an inspiration to me, too,” he said.
Then there’s the Grey Ghost, John Mosby. Several drawings of the Confederate cavalry hero decorate the walls of Mosby’s chambers.
“We have the same birthday,” he said proudly.
By Darrell Laurant
Published: January 28, 2010
Source: News & Advance