This article marks the first Administrative Law update in the Annual Survey of Virginia Law since 2014. Looking back over the past ten years, Virginia administrative law has remained remarkably stable in comparison to federal administrative law. Debate about a “major questions doctrine” has largely been absent in a state where the General Assembly is active and remains the dominant policy-making body in Virginia government.

Debate about Chevron is nonexistent here because agencies have never received deference for their reasonable interpretations of ambiguous Virginia statutes. Still, there has been change, and this article will highlight the most significant developments in judicial decisions, as well as legislative and executive branch changes to administrative law.

But while Virginia administrative law has been stable, Virginia politics have not. The state’s political dynamics have significantly changed in the last ten years. This article predicts that, because of those trends, the next ten years will not be so quiet on administrative law.

Noah P. Sullivan *

* Partner, Gentry Locke Attorneys, Richmond, Virginia. J.D., Stanford Law School; B.A. in
Government with Highest Distinction, University of Virginia.

Mr. Sullivan is a Partner at Gentry Locke with a practice focus in Commercial Litigation and Government/Regulatory Litigation. Prior to joining Gentry Locke, Mr. Sullivan served as Deputy Counsel and then Counsel for Governor Terence R. McAuliffe. There, Mr. Sullivan oversaw the executive branch review process of all regulations in the state regulatory system. Also prior to joining Gentry Locke, Mr. Sullivan worked as a litigation attorney for the better part of nine years at the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

This year could be considered quiet in both legislative and judicial activity, lacking as it was in any substantial new legislative enactments or major opinions from the Supreme Court of Virginia on core wealth transfer issues.

Nevertheless, a set of modest legislative changes helped bring the rules for revocable trusts in line
with the rules for wills, standardizing estate planning and wealth transfer regulation, while other changes also brought clarity to existing rules by amplifying procedures and providing additional detail for administrative processes.

In the judicial setting, while guidance for this practice area was primarily provided by the Court of
Appeals of Virginia, the cases covered a wide array of topics, like rights to an accounting, the role of the Commissioner, and no contest clauses. A large concentration of the judicial matters also flagged the numerous issues that can arise when leaving property and residence rights to individuals through an estate plan.

Allison A. Tait *

Hunter M. Glenn **

* Professor of Law, University of Richmond School of Law, Richmond, Virginia. J.D., 2011, Yale Law School; Ph.D., Yale University; B.A., Bryn Mawr.

** Associate, McGuireWoods LLP, Charlottesville, Virginia. J.D., 2017, University of Richmond School of Law; B.A., 2013, Furman University.

One need only look to the research and recommendations regarding the involuntary commitment process, psychiatric hospitalizations, and CSBs to see how the last thirty years of recommendations have signaled the future importance of Specialty Dockets.

The Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission (“JLARC”) was created in 1973 as part of the legislative branch of state government to research into particular areas of need and evaluation in the Commonwealth. In this article, we utilize JLARC’s historical recommendations and apply them to the
function of Specialty Dockets, particularly in the behavioral health/mental health context. This Article focuses primarily on particular issue items in reports from JLARC and their roles in the intersection of civil involuntary commitment and criminal Specialty Dockets. 

The Honorable Jacqueline S. McClenney *

* The Honorable Jacqueline S. McClenney is the Chief Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in Virginia, a University of Richmond School of Law Graduate, and the Presiding Judge for the Circuit Court Behavioral Health Docket. I am grateful to Kelly O’Brien, judicial law clerk (2023–2024) and summer intern Jordan Narcisse for their research and assistance. Thank you to the staff and participants of the Behavioral Health Docket whose commitment to service and growth are the inspiration for this Article.