Rebecca Beach Smith
| Rebecca B. Smith | |
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 |
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| Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia | |
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Assumed office 2011 |
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| Preceded by | James R. Spencer |
| Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia | |
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Assumed office October 25, 1989 |
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| Appointed by | George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | David Warriner |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1949 (age 67–68) Hopewell, Virginia, U.S. |
| Alma mater |
The College of William & Mary University of Virginia The College of William & Mary Law School |
Rebecca Beach Smith (born 1949) is the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and civic leader. Among her many decisions is the 2011 ruling that decided the title to and restrictions upon artifacts salvaged from the wreck of the RMS Titanic.
Judge Rebecca Beach Smith was born in Hopewell, Virginia. She received a B.A. degree from The College of William & Mary in 1971, and then received a M.A. degree from the University of Virginia in 1973. After she worked as a planning analyst for Enviro-Med, Inc. (1973-1974) and research associate at the National Academy of Science (1974-1977), Smith attended law school and received her J.D. degree from The College of William & Mary Law School in 1979. She was executive editor of the William and Mary Law Review, graduated first in her law school class and was awarded membership in the Order of the Coif. In 1997, Judge Smith received The College of William and Mary Alumni Medallion, the highest award the William and Mary Alumni Association can bestow on a graduate of the College of William and Mary.
After earning her M.A. degree, Smith was a planning analyst for Enviro-Med, Inc. in Washington, D.C., and La Jolla, California from 1973–74. She then was a research associate for the National Academy of Science, Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C. from 1974 to 1977. After she graduated from law school, Smith entered the private practice of law in Norfolk, Virginia. She then served as a law clerk for the Honorable J. Calvitt Clarke, Jr., Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in 1979–1980. She was again in the private practice of law at a large firm in Norfolk from 1980 to 1985. Before being appointed a federal district judge, she was a United States magistrate judge for the Eastern District of Virginia from 1985 to 1989.
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