ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 15, 1997 TAG: 9701150050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK
Steve Agee, a lawyer and former state legislator from Salem, is expressing interest in filling a vacancy on the Virginia Supreme Court.
At a meeting Tuesday, the Roanoke Bar Association agreed to consider endorsing Agee for the seat when it meets next month, bar President Charles Cornelison said.
The vacancy on the seven-member court was created by the retirement of Justice Roscoe Stephenson of Covington, who recently announced that he will step down July 1 after serving 16 years.
Agee - a former Republican delegate who represented Salem and parts of Craig, Montgomery and Roanoke counties - confirmed Tuesday that he has expressed an interest in the vacancy after being approached by a number of legislators. The General Assembly is expected to fill the position sometime next month.
The only other candidate to express an interest so far is Bernard Cohen, a former Democratic delegate from Alexandria, according to the Virginia Lawyers Weekly.
Agee, 44, served in the House of Delegates from 1982 to 1994 and once unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for attorney general. He has practiced law in the Roanoke Valley since 1977, and has argued cases before the Virginia and the U.S. Supreme Court.
If Agee is appointed to the Supreme Court, it would be the second time the General Assembly has looked to Salem for a new justice. Lawrence Koontz of Salem, who served on the Virginia Court of Appeals for a decade, was named to the high court in 1995.
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