Candidate Profile: Gerarda Culipher For Fairfax County Clerk Of Court

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Gerarda Culipher, who currently serves as deputy clerk of the court in Fairfax County, is running for Fairfax County Clerk of Court in the Nov. 7 general election.

A graduate of Tulane Law, Culipher interned and clerked for two federal judges, returning home to the Washington, D.C. area, where she has worked in the Fairfax Circuit Court Clerk’s Office for the past decade as its chief deputy clerk and legal counsel.

Culipher is a member of the Virginia and D.C. bars and has served as an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, teaching “American Legal Institutions.” She has lectured at the Omohundro Institute’s “Law & Legal Culture in Early America” symposium and at William & Mary Law School.

Culipher, a Republican, is hoping to replace retiring Fairfax County Circuit Court Clerk John Frey, a Republican who has served as clerk of the county’s circuit court for the last 32 years.

The general election ballot in Fairfax County will also include countywide races for Board of Supervisors chairman, at-large members for Fairfax County School Board, Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney, Fairfax County Sheriff, and Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District.

Early voting for the general election began on Friday, Sept. 22. More information on how to vote is available from the Fairfax County Office of Elections.

Patch asked the two candidates running for Fairfax County Clerk of Court to fill out a candidate questionnaire with the same questions. Here are Culipher's responses:

Name

Gerarda Marie Culipher

Town of Residence

Oakton

Party affiliation

Republican

Family

My husband Bryan and I have four children, ages 11 to 15, who have been just terrific as their mom has campaigned all over Fairfax this year. Thank you kids!

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

I’m a proud military spouse to an Air Force Officer. For all those here in Fairfax who’ve given their careers to serving our country, our state, or our county, thank you for your calling to public service.

Education

• B.A. Johns Hopkins University: Classics & History of Medicine, Science & Technology
• J.D. Tulane Law School

Occupation

• Chief Deputy Clerk & Legal Counsel: Fairfax Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, 10 years
• Law Clerk, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Washington D.C., 2 years
• Judicial Extern, Eastern District of Louisiana, Magistrate Judge, 1 year

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

• Appointed Chief Deputy Clerk to the Fairfax Circuit Court, 2012
• Elected, Executive Board, National Association of County Recorders, Clerks & Election Officials (NACRC)
• Elected, Executive Board, International Association of Government Officials (iGO)
• Appointed, Executive Board Member, Virginia Women Attorneys Association (VWAA)
• Appointed, Executive Board Member, Northern Virginia Women Attorneys Association (NVWAA)
• Appointed, Fairfax County Small Business Commission

Campaign website

• https://www.culipherforclerk.com.
• @Culipher4Clerk on Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter and YouTube.

Why are you seeking elective office?

We serve the busy residents and legal community of Fairfax with cheerful competence! I adore delivering EXCELLENT customer service, particularly in the local-government-space; this is actively curated by an elected Clerk who sets the tone of the agency. As Clerk, I will ensure that YOUR customer experience at our Courthouse is EXCELLENT both substantively, and transactionally. While being in Court can be stressful, being at the court-counters shouldn’t be! Having led this office for over a decade as Chief Deputy and Legal Counsel, I know our Court’s unique pace, and I know the depth and breadth of our Mission, but I am running to serve the staff and our community, as the final decision-maker on important court customer-service functions. Tone is set, from the top.

The single most pressing issue facing Fairfax County is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The cost of living, and mounting inflation, is the number one issue facing Fairfax right now; and specific to the Clerk’s Office, we can keep costs down, and reduce redundancy, by expanding “Virtual Appointments” and retaining talented public servants, who serve our court every day. Teaching the next generation of court professionals to learn our craft, to value our civil liberties, and to ensure fairness for all litigants, builds a pipeline of court professionals who will serve Fairfax with excellence, for years to come. We serve everyone equally, so we take pride in the Good Work we do for the people of Fairfax. Encouraging subject-matter fluency with our Code of Virginia processes, cast against a heart for service, is how we make for a more cost-efficient and time-efficient court agency. This benefits the customer directly. You’ve heard of “teaching hospitals”? Likewise, I think of the Fairfax Circuit Clerk’s Office as “a teaching court.” There is a reason Fairfax is a leader in Virginia in Court Administration ... and it begins at the top. My Vision includes the cost-savings customers will enjoy with expanded “Virtual Appointments” which we established for Marriage Licenses, Probate and Court Hearings during The Pandemic. We have kept virtual appointments in our Probate Office, so that adult-children (who live all over the Nation) can save a trip to the airport. I would like to expand these Virtual Services, so we can meet you as a customer, where you are. Because “time is money,” we know this will reduce costs and headaches to Fairfax’s already-busy residents, who have court business.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to recent issues (i.e. the pandemic)? What if anything would you have done differently?

The Fairfax Circuit Court Clerk’s Office handled The Pandemic with characteristic resilience and customer-focus. Unlike neighboring Court Clerk’s Offices like Arlington, Fairfax remained OPEN, without interruption, NEVER closing our doors or shuttering our windows, to the important civil liberties that we administer every day. While federal, state, and local governments closed to customers in March of 2020, your Fairfax Circuit Court Clerk’s Office kept our counters open for you. We are enormously proud of our staff who, in a moment of crisis, honored their Oath of Office … to serve you “to the best of their ability” supporting the Constitution of the United States of America, and the Constitution of Virginia. Our colleagues aced it: your 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 14th and 19th Amendments were protected and served without interruption, despite lock-downs under the Virginia Supreme Court’s Declaration of Judicial Emergency. We held weekly Zoom meetings with the Fairfax Bar Association’s Technology Subcommittee, updating them on the agile pivot to “virtual hearings and appointments” that our staff so deftly crafted, for interrupted service, and the resumption of jury trials. We offered safe, secure court service-delivery when COVID-19 numbers were spiking, while still honoring YOUR Constitutional Rights. I am proud to have on-boarded telework at our office this year, which I know we could have adopted for all staff earlier in the Pandemic, to maximize efficiency with our terrific IT systems and databases. For a big and busy court like Fairfax, telework improves our resiliency in the Continuity of Operations Plan/Continuity of Government context (COOP &
COG); telework is a strategic strength and an inherent good.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidate seeking this post?

“Span of Control” is a term used to describe the number of subordinates who report to a leader. Having led the 180 employees of the Fairfax Circuit Court Clerk’s Office for a decade as the Chief Deputy Clerk and Legal Counsel, I’ve been responsible for oversight of 10 departments (Court IT, Human Resources, Civil, Criminal, Archives, Probate, Accounting, Land Records, Jury Trials, and Marriage Licenses). By contrast, my opponent has been a part-time supervisor in the much smaller court, in Arlington. The Clerk of the Fairfax Circuit Court serves 15 judges, and has 180 employees, oversees a $13 Million budget and is responsible for about $300 Million a year in revenues (local and state). On an average day, we are holding roughly $35 Million in litigation-escrowed funds. My depth and breadth of experience running our Fairfax Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, distinguishes me. Mindful that Clerk is a large, court-administrator job (not a political position) Voters have a clear choice for broad and deep command-experience in our Fairfax trial court, when they choose “Gerarda Marie Culipher" for Clerk, on their ballot.

How can the voters know you can do the job?

The Clerk serves as the Administrator of Virginia’s largest trial court agency. That I have helped lead this organization, demonstrates that I can lead this terrific organization. Furthermore, as a working mom, I bring an important voice to the top leadership position; it informs how we work, and the customer-focus we have. For instance, when I started at the Court in 2012, I had just had my fourth baby, and I noticed there was no dedicated nursing mothers’ room in the entire courthouse. Working with the Fairfax Bar Association, we identified and designated a space suitable and appropriate for customers and employees, who happen to be moms. I also worked with the Victims’ Services Unit to identify dedicated space in the Courthouse for victims (and their families) to comfortably meet when they have to come testify at court, during some of the toughest times as a victim … when revisiting the event, during criminal trials. There are valuable, valuable perspectives that women leaders bring to any organization. Which is why my campaign slogan is, “Culipher, VOTE for HER!”

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

The Clerk is NOT a partisan position. I cannot emphasize this enough. Fundamental fairness to all Fairfax residents, is the promise and the Oath we take. Our Courthouse, and all your important civil liberties protected inside of it, are TOO IMPORTANT for politics. For example, we often say, “The Clerk’s Office is a neutral third-party.” That means we cannot advocate for (put a thumb on the scale for) any one litigant. Every–every–litigant is entitled to a full, fair judicial system. I worry about politicians inadvertently undermining ALL people’s right to a fair process, which is why I keep saying that the Clerk of Court works for you best, when it is not politicized. Please consider the heft of that, when you vote. The Scales of Justice must be in-balance.

Also, with an 8-year term of office, I will be able to bring further on-line access and digital, e-court functions to our office. For example, I have a vision for a “Digital Trial Practice System,” which will expand on the e-filing we have already on-boarded, but will allow the trial court to receive and annotate digital trial exhibits and evidence. I would also like to securely, and responsibly, increase the online access to case indices, while protecting the data-integrity and security of YOUR highly-personal information contained in our court records.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

The Clerk of Court must have a clear understanding of our Mission; renewing that Mission every day. My experience is defining, and critical. In my decade, we have: on-boarded e-filing, expanded and modernized e-recording in our land records, migrated to digital-casefiles, expanded our Online Scheduling System and our Online Dockets, created a Jury Duty online portal, created a court-clerk class series for hiring top talent, increased training for deputy clerks (like
establishing our "Learning Library" and "Leadership News Portal," where staff can access books and articles on career advancement and leadership) created a Docent Program for cross-training, published our “Found in the Archives” monthly blog, established a 5-year Records Preservation Plan, partnered with Enslaved.org to share indices as primary resources for research on the transatlantic slave-trade, and built a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) for sustained, core-functions. That I have run this agency, written its published budget, administered its budget, curated a culture of learning, crafted its COOP and taught CLEs and other classes on what we do, and how we do it, demonstrates my clear track record of ability to lead these fine, fine public servants, who I am proud to call colleagues. The Clerk in Fairfax must be strong; it’s too big a court, and our dockets are too complex, and the questions that come through, are too complicated for anything short of The Gold Standard. Fairfax is a leader in the state, and we should keep that level of excellence for you, and for generations to come.

Having taught as an adjunct law professor at AU’s Washington College of Law, and lecturing at William & Mary Law’s Omohundro Institute’s “Law & Legal Culture in Early America” symposium, I have the depth and breadth of knowledge to be a credible and important voice for the core functions of our Clerk’s Office. The neighboring Clerks routinely call for advice on everything from HR, to Jury Administration, even to Court Accounting best practices. My leadership style is to share knowledge, as well as seek it; “More people, knowing more things” is a philosophy that benefits the Fairfax citizens when they have business at our courthouse. Long may it be so.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Helen Thomas, the inimitable White House Correspondent once told me (and about ten other young women professionals who had come to see her speak) that the key to her trailblazing success was “Just being there.” And I find that to be true in our Fairfax Circuit Court Clerk’s Office: experience comes over time, not in a flash…and there is wisdom in that. First covering John F. Kennedy, through Barack Obama, Helen Thomas secured her own seat at the table of power, and ensured that no man got away with unchecked power. Man, she was a rockstar!

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

As Clerk, I will be custodian to millions of records that contain sensitive, personal, and detailed information about you and your family (marriage, divorce, adoption, mortgage records). I take the security of those records and that data extremely seriously. In Fairfax, we observe VITA (Virginia Information Technology Agency) standards. Additionally, our dedicated Court IT Division, ensures we use best practices to protect against data-miners and other bad-actors, who seek to abuse the constitutional presumption for open court/open records. It is a balancing act, to make open records readily available, and to protect your right to privacy; but Fairfax strikes that balance, because we know your information is worthy of strong protection.

Thank you for keeping an open mind about me, and considering my credentials for this Court Administrator position, in an unbiased light. Whether you think of yourself as a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Independent … I think of YOU as my customer. I serve all, and that's why I ask for ALL people’s vote. The level of hard work you’ve seen in me as a candidate on the campaign trail is EXACTLY the level of work ethic I bring to my job as Clerk. Check out my social media channels for short videos that share what the Clerk of Court does, and why we say, “Culipher, VOTE for HER!” @Culipher4Clerk on Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter and YouTube.

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