First of two new SCC judges sworn in

Samuel T. Towell, a former Virginia deputy attorney general and Smithfield Foods associate general counsel, was sworn in Wednesday as the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s newest judge.

The SCC governs utilities, state-chartered financial institutions, securities, insurance, retail franchising and the Virginia Health Benefit Exchange. Its three-judge panel had been short two judges since the December 2022 resignation of Judge Judith Jagdmann, and nominations were held up by partisan politics.

In January, the Virginia General Assembly unanimously elected two attorneys to fill the two vacancies: Kelsey Bagot, a former legal adviser with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission who lives in Loudoun County, and Towell. Bagot’s six-year term is expected to start after her swearing-in on April 1, while Towell’s term is set to expire Jan. 31, 2028, as he is replacing Jagdmann, who left during the fourth year of her third term.

Since January 2023, Judge Jehmal T. Hudson has been the only sitting Virginia SCC commissioner and is currently the chair. Having taken office in July 2020, Hudson is serving his first six-year term on the commission.

SCC judges are named by state legislators or, if they can’t agree on a candidate, the governor can name a commissioner on a temporary basis, although the state Senate and House of Delegates must elect a judge to a six-year term.

A graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, Towell was also deputy secretary of agriculture and forestry under Gov. Terry McAuliffe and was a litigation attorney at McGuireWoods. Bagot, a graduate of Harvard Law School, was a trial attorney at FERC and a legal adviser to former SCC Judge Mark Christie during his recent term as a FERC commissioner. She also was an associate at Troutman Sanders.