Clerk asks for expungement and probate staff to handle rising caseloads and new state mandate

Loudoun County’s Clerk of Circuit Court, Gary Clemens, presented three priority resource requests tied to rising courthouse workloads and an imminent new statutory mandate to seal certain records.

Expungement/sealing implementation: Clemens said recent state action will require clerks statewide to seal certain expunged cases automatically and to manage petitions for other cases; the Supreme Court’s office is developing a technology solution, but the clerk’s office needs local implementation capacity. Clemens asked for a judicial-projects specialist to coordinate the filing, indexing, public outreach and technical work required to ensure statutorily eligible records are sealed and made unavailable where required. He described anticipated complexities including automatic sealing, partial sealing for specific documents, and petition-based filings with no fee.

Probate and guardianship workload: The clerk said probate and guardianship filings have increased substantially — he reported a multi-year rise that the office expects to continue — and asked for a probate specialist to preserve current response times (he cited an average appointment scheduling time and the desire to maintain a roughly nine-day appointment window for probate hearings). The probate team also manages qualification for guardianships; the clerk said adding staff would preserve customer service and permit expanded service options, such as Saturday hours and satellite-court offerings.

Visiting judge/workload support: Clemens noted Loudoun relies heavily on visiting judges (he reported roughly 75 percent of all court days staffed by visiting judges) and said the county needs additional local capacity to support that workload. The clerk asked for a resource that would help manage an increasing number of visiting-judge days while the locality continues to press for an additional permanent judge in the judicial circuit.

State funding and cost-sharing: Clemens said the state compensation board has appropriated funding for clerks statewide for this expungement effort; Loudoun’s expected share was not finalized in the meeting but Clemens estimated the state grant could cover roughly 36–50 percent of the judicial-projects specialist salary depending on qualifications.

Why it matters: The new sealing/expungement requirement could affect decades of court records; the clerk argued that correct and timely implementation is essential to protect individual rights and avoid leaving eligible records visible in background checks and employment screenings.

Speakers: Gary Clemens, Clerk of the Circuit Court; county staff and multiple supervisors asked clarifying questions about caseload trends and scheduling.

Provenance: Clemens’ presentation and Q&A are recorded in the budget work session transcript when the clerk’s office presented its FY26 requests.