Portsmouth native to start role as new city attorney in June, closing book on 18-month hiring saga

A Portsmouth native — with experience on the prosecutorial and defense sides of the courtroom — will begin work as the new city attorney in her hometown next month.

Lavonda Graham-Williams, 46, is returning to her roots after years of living in the Washington area.

“I just want to say it’s good to be back home,” she said at the Portsmouth City Council meeting April 26, when members voted 7-0 to appoint her.

The post has been a revolving door of sorts since the council ousted longtime City Attorney Tim Oksman in 2012, with seven people holding the job on a permanent or interim basis since. The last person to hold the job on a non-temporary basis, Solomon Ashby, was fired by a 4-3 council vote in September 2020.

But after 18 months — and an at times controversial hiring process — council members believe they’ve finally got the right pick.

Graham-Williams attended I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth before getting undergraduate degree at George Washington University and a law degree at the College of William & Mary. She then worked for years as a lawyer in the Washington region.

She’s most recently been a supervising deputy — overseeing cases involving juveniles — at the Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. That’s a large office in Manassas with dozens of prosecuting attorneys.

She will begin June 13 in Portsmouth with a $200,000 annual salary plus benefits.

Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover said Tuesday that Graham-Williams “comes with a very complete background in terms of the legal environment.”

“She’s very highly regarded,” he said. “We’re very excited about her level of professionalism and the expertise that she will bring to the Office of the City Attorney.”

The city attorney’s post is one of three city positions — along with city manager and city clerk — that answer directly to the council.

The job entails ensuring the city’s compliance with a range of state and federal laws and regulations, on everything from city contracts to zoning and housing rules, from personnel matters to open meetings and records law. The city attorney defends the city in litigation — with the city’s lawyers or by hiring outside counsel — and files lawsuits on the city’s behalf.

In recent years, for example, the city attorney’s office worked with outside counsel in reaching an $11 million settlement with a local family from an accident that stemmed from a police pursuit. The office also agreed to a $300,000 settlement to Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, following her lawsuit against the city over a 2020 protest at a local Confederate monument.

Glover said “between six and nine” people applied for the job when it was reposted earlier this year, adding that council members interviewed three applicants.

“She stood out among the crowd,” Glover said. “She was very forthright with answering the questions ... She seems like someone that’s very much concerned about making sure that people are treated fairly and equitably.”

He said Graham-Williams’ parents still live in Portsmouth, “and she’s just excited about making a positive difference in the community that she grew up in.”

The council also was impressed, he said, that Graham-Williams familiarized herself with the office and its personnel, telling the council “she was really pleased with the level of expertise” already there. She sent the office a fruit basket last week with a note on how much she looked forward to coming.

Portsmouth has had female interim city attorneys: The office was previously led on an interim basis by Cheran Cordell Ivery, now Hampton’s city attorney, and is now led by Interim City Attorney Simone Boothe. But Glover said Graham-Williams will be the first woman to hold the job full time in Portsmouth.

The hiring process took some significant twists and turns.

In December, the council tabled a vote on one hire after a large public turnout opposed the appointment of a controversial candidate.

The opposition came after information came to light about the lawyer’s background, including reprimands for missing court dates and a felony obstruction of justice charge — later reduced to misdemeanor contempt of court — for calling his client’s co-defendant a snitch in a courtroom hallway in 2012.

Burle Stromberg, the interim city attorney since Ashby’s dismissal, was demoted to assistant city attorney in March after heated comments to Glover after a council meeting. On Tuesday, Glover called Stromberg “one of the most conscientious, hardworking, caring and compassionate people that I know.”

Graham-Williams couldn’t be reached for comment.

After law school, she worked as a lawyer at Huff, Poole and Mahoney in Virginia Beach, handling criminal and civil defense in state and federal court, to include contract disputes and landlord-tenant matters, according to her her LinkedIn profile.

Graham-Williams served as a hearing officer for the Department of Motor Vehicles in Washington hearing traffic and license offenses, the LinkedIn profile says. She then worked as a criminal defense lawyer in the Washington area.

She later began her own company that focused on people with special needs, the LinkedIn profile says. That included developing training programs for government agencies on accommodating those with disabilities, to include “appropriate arrest and interrogation procedures.”

Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, pdujardin@dailypress.com