BY CLARA VAUGHN
Eastern Shore Post
After serving Accomack and Northampton counties for nearly two decades, General District Court Judge Gordon Vincent retired Dec. 31.
Vincent heard tens of thousands of cases in traffic court and determined both civil and criminal matters from the bench in Accomac and Eastville.
He is only the fourth general district court judge to serve Virginia’s Eastern Shore in over 50 years.
“It’s a real privilege and honor to get to be a judge on the Eastern Shore,” Vincent said from his office in Accomac on Friday, Dec. 27.
Vincent’s law career began in 1983 in South Carolina, where he was in private practice for six years before moving back to his native Eastern Shore.
During his time in private practice here, he handled a wide range of cases — including one that involved a Picasso painting, he said.
In 1992, Vincent had what he called his “eureka moment … realizing that Judge [Glen] Tyler was 51, Judge [Robert] Philips was 49, and I was 35” years old, he said, referring to the Shore’s circuit and general district court judges at the time.
“I realized that perhaps I might be at the right place at the right time,” he said.
After Judge Philips retired in 2006, Virginia’s General Assembly appointed Vincent as the general district court judge for Virginia’s 2A judicial district, which includes Accomack and Northampton counties.
General district court judges hear traffic violation cases, minor criminal cases, and civil cases such as landlord and tenant disputes, contract disputes, and personal injury actions.
Though they do not conduct jury trials, the general district courts hold preliminary hearings for felony criminal matters.
For Vincent, that included presiding over the preliminary and bond hearings for the Eastern Shore arsonists, who were later convicted following a months-long series of fires they set to dozens of buildings between 2012 and 2013.
Over the years, Vincent said one of his biggest challenges has been handling the caseload of traffic violations on the Eastern Shore.
“For nine years, I had the highest workload per judge in Virginia,” he said. “It topped out at 42,000 cases in 2019.”
He said the most rewarding part of his 18-and-a-half-year career as general district court judge has been serving his community.
“Something like 90% of the people who have a court appearance come in to the general district court,” Vincent said.
“My goal is to make sure that they know that they are being listened to, that they have time to express what they need to or want to express about their case, and that I explain it in a way that a person who is not a lawyer can understand,” he said.
Vincent’s replacement will be determined by Virginia’s General Assembly during its 2025 session, scheduled to end in February. A series of substitute judges will fill the role until then, he said.
His retirement plans including volunteering. Vincent has also written a play that is slated to be performed at the North Street Playhouse in Onancock this year, he said.
After the required three-month waiting period, he plans to serve as substitute judge in other parts of Virgina, he said.
“I like travel and I like learning new things,” he said of his retirement plans, adding, “I’ll also try to get better at golf, but I’ve been trying for a long time.”
His advice for the next general district court judge is to “be patient, listen carefully, and be consistent to the greatest degree possible.”
“By being consistent, you can be fair to all,” he said.
