Former chief justice of the the Supreme Court of Virginia to join Gentry Locke

Cynthia D. Kinser, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia, will join Roanoke-based law firm Gentry Locke as senior counsel.

Beginning work at the firm on Tuesday, she will focus on appeals, criminal matters and government investigations.

Kinser spent 17 years on the Supreme Court of Virginia, with more than three of those years as Virginia’s first woman chief justice. She retired in December.

Before joining the Supreme Court of Virginia, she worked in private practice in southwest Virginia, served a term as the commonwealth’s attorney of Lee County, served as bankruptcy trustee, and was a magistrate Judge for the Western District of Virginia.

Kinser is the recipient of several notable awards, among them the Virginia Bar Association’s Gerald L. Baliles Distinguished Service Award in 2015, and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Law in 2011.

The Baliles award is the Virginia Bar Association’s highest honor. It recognizes exceptional service and contributions to the bar and public at large.

Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medals are the highest external honors bestowed by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, along with the University of Virginia, which grants no honorary degrees. The award recognizes the achievements of those who embrace endeavors in which Jefferson excelled and held in high regard, namely, architecture, law, and citizen leadership.

Gentry Locke has offices in Roanoke and Lynchburg and employs more than 50 lawyers in a wide a range of disciplines.