Effective December 4, 2025, the Honorable Mark S. Davis's term as Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia will come to conclusion by statute (see 28 U.S.C. § 136).  Chief Judge Davis has served as the Court's Chief Judge since December 4, 2018.

Chief Judge Davis will be succeeded by the Honorable M. Hannah Lauck, who was nominated in 2013 to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia – one of the thirteen original judicial districts in the United States – by President Barack Obama.  The United States Senate unanimously confirmed Judge Lauck in June 2014.

A native of Falls Church, Virginia, she is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wellesley College, where she majored in Political Science.  Judge Lauck received her law degree from Yale Law School.  Following law school, she clerked for the Honorable James R. Spencer, who later became Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Virginia.  After clerking, she entered private practice in the Washington, D.C., office of Anderson Kill Olick and Oshinsky.  After private practice, Judge Lauck served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Richmond Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office, acting first as a criminal and later as a civil Assistant U.S. Attorney during her tenure.  After her time at the U. S. Attorney's office, Judge Lauck returned to private practice as headquarters supervisory litigation counsel for Genworth Financial, Inc.

In 2005, Judge Lauck left private practice when she was appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Richmond Division of the Eastern District of Virginia, the first woman federal judge appointed in the Richmond Division of the Court.  Following her appointment as a United States District Court Judge, Judge Lauck has served on various local and national committees to improve judicial administration.  Recently, Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court of the United States appointed Chief Judge Lauck for a second term on the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules, which reports to the Judicial Conference of the United States. 

As Chief Judge, Judge Lauck's chambers will remain in Richmond, Virginia, but she will preside over the federal district courts in Alexandria, Richmond, Norfolk, and Newport News.  Judge Lauck's term as Chief Judge becomes effective December 4, 2025.

For additional information, please contact Fernando Galindo, Clerk of Court.