Greg Parks Elected Clerk of Alexandria Circuit Court
"This office is important, and I'm going to give it my all. It's a new challenge and it's it's humbling," Parks said.
Alexandria, VA – The voters have spoken, and Greg Parks was elected Alexandria Clerk of Court on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Parks won 93 percent of the vote, facing no competition in the general election after winning the primary in June.
“It’s almost unreal. I’ve worked so hard for this,” Parks said. “When I set out on this journey I resigned from my federal position, and I went full steam ahead. This office is important, and I’m going to give it my all. It’s a new challenge and it’s it’s humbling.”
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The 53-year-old Parks succeeds Ed Semonian, who held the position for five consecutive eight year terms. Parks said that he will work with Semonian to ensure a smooth transition, and that he will focus on upgrading the office and making it more accessible to the public.
Parks watched the returns come in at home with his husband and campaign manager David Lord, reelected incumbent legislators in the General Assembly, local elected officials, and dozens of members of Alexandria Democratic Committee. He thanked Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter and Del. Mark Levine (D-45) for mentoring him through his campaign.
For the last eight years, Parks was chief counsel for the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, and he worked with a team of judges to settle disputes between the federal government and private contractors. He was previously an attorney with the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the General Services Administration. He is a former Congressional fellow at the Brooking Institution and was selected by the White House in 2003 to help plan the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after the 9/11 attacks. Parks received his law degree from American University in 1993 and a Master of Law degree last year from the George Washington University. Since moving to Alexandria in 2013, he has been an active member of the Alexandria Democratic Committee, the Economic Opportunities Commission, the Human Rights Commission, and City Council’s Budget and Fiscal Affairs Advisory Committee.
Parks has his work cut out for him over the next eight years, and will have to oversee the transition of 20 years of records to the Supreme Court of Virginia, following the lead of more than 100 other clerk offices from around the Commonwealth.
“I recognize that this office has over 800 central responsibilities, so I don’t pretend that I’m going to be able to know all of that on day one, but I’m going to go into the office with a plan, learning everything I can as fast as I can,” Parks said. “The priorities I have are for modernizing the office to improve electronic filing and citizen service-focused action items to improve the experience of visiting the office, like taking down the big plexiglass wall in the front office, which is a vestige of an era before there was security in the courthouse.”
Parks will be sworn into office on Jan. 1, 2020, and he will be sworn in by Ed Semonian at the Alexandria Courthouse.
