RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Members of the Virginia Supreme Court have chosen Justice Donald W. Lemons to serve as chief justice.

Lemons will succeed Chief Justice Cynthia Kinser, who will retire on Dec. 31. His four-year term will begin Jan. 1, 2015.

The court announced Lemons’ election on Monday in a news release.

The General Assembly elected Lemons twice as a justice, in 2000 and in 2012. He had previously served as judge of the Court of Appeals of Virginia and as a Richmond Circuit Court judge.

Lemons also has served assistant dean and assistant professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law.

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