Robert C. Barclay IV

Editorial Summary

Rob Barclay lives in the Riverfront section of the Sleepy Hole Borough in northern Suffolk and is an attorney with the Portsmouth based firm of Cooper, Spong & Davis, P.C. He was born in Portsmouth in 1960 and graduated from Nansemond-Suffolk Academy in 1978. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1982 and his Juris Doctor in 1987 from the University of Virginia. After earning his law degree, Rob served as an officer in the U. S. Navy Judge Advocate Generals (JAG) Corps. During almost five years of active duty, he served at Subic Bay in the Philippines, Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, on the staff of the Commander of Naval Air Forces Atlantic in Norfolk, and in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm. After completing his military service, Rob entered private law practice and has practiced with Cooper, Spong & Davis since 1993. Rob’s abilities as an attorney have repeatedly been recognized by his peers. The attorneys of the 3rd Judicial Circuit elected him twice to serve as their representative to the Virginia State Bar Council, the governing body for lawyers in Virginia. Virginia Business Magazine has twice selected him for inclusion in its list of “Super Lawyers” in Virginia. He also maintains an AV rating, the highest possible, with the national attorney ranking publication Martindale-Hubbell. Rob is a member of the Norfolk/Portsmouth Bar Association and the Virginia Bar Association, and has taught seminars on land use and real estate law. Throughout his career, Rob has been community oriented and civic minded. While Rob was a law student, Governor Chuck Robb appointed Rob to serve on the Virginia Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Advisory Counsel. While living in Portsmouth, he served almost eight years on the Portsmouth Planning Commission, including the final three years as chairman, before moving to Suffolk in 2002. In 2004 Governor Mark Warner appointed Rob as a Commissioner on the Board of the Virginia Port Authority. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of that Board, which oversees the third largest port facility on the East Coast, accounting for more than 340,000 jobs in Virginia, over $41 billion in total revenues, and $1.2 billion in local income, sales and real estate tax revenues, according to a recent study. Additionally, Rob serves as the Sleepy Hole Borough representative on the Suffolk Airport Commission and is a member of the Portsmouth Kiwanis Club. He enjoys taking part in activities with his sons’ Boy Scout Troop in Driver. Rob, his wife Bonnie, and their sons, Cole and Eason, live in Suffolk’s Riverfront area. They attend St. John’s Episcopal Church in downtown Portsmouth, where Rob was baptized and attended services while growing up. Rob has twice served on the vestry of St. John’s. As of June 10, 2008, the filing deadline for the November 2008 Suffolk City Council election, Rob was the only candidate to qualify for the ballot for the Sleepy Hole Borough seat. He remains unopposed in the race for that seat on Suffolk City Council.