Chester Starts Work As Goshen’s Attorney

Goshen has found a new town attorney in Francis Chester, a lawyer based in Augusta Springs.

Chester has been practicing law for more than 60 years, first on Long Island in New York, where he lived after graduating from St. John’s University. He and his wife moved to Virginia in 1968 and he was admitted to the Virginia State Bar Association in December of 1969. He currently practices out of Augusta Springs, primarily working with family estate law, power of attorney, and family and elder law cases. This is his first time representing a town as its attorney.

Following former Goshen attorney Jared Jenkins’ resignation from the Virginia State Bar, Goshen Vice Mayor Steve Bickley began asking other localities that Jenkins had represented about their new attorneys and found that most had gotten lawyers from Roanoke or Salem. Bickley began his search locally and went to Augusta Springs to meet with Chester.

“His response was very good,” Bickley said. “The questions I asked and the answers he gave me were pretty much exactly what I wanted to hear, so I figured it was worth a try to see how he could help the town. It’s not like we do a lot of legal business, but we do need somebody for advice and things once in a while, so I figured it’s worth a shot to try to keep a local guy in the spot if we can.”

Bickley invited Chester to sit in on the Town Council’s August meeting to see how business was conducted, and after that meeting Chester spoke to other members of the Town Council and Mayor Tom McCraw. He began serving as the town’s attorney shortly after and has been familiarizing himself with the regulations the town works under and the business it is conducting.

“I get along extremely well with the mayor and the vice mayor and the others I’m getting to know. I’m excited about the potential for Goshen,” he said. “I’m excited about the idea for a railroad museum … I see some great things [for the town]. I think we’re living in one of the most beautiful areas in the country. Our philosophy, the Council and myself, is we want to preserve what we have with the beautiful environment and encourage tourism and I think that’s the way to go. I think it’s a good mix. I think Goshen is a wonderful town and I look forward to helping them in any way I can.”

“He seems very motivated,” Bickley said. “He’s been doing a lot of research on the rules that govern how towns run meetings, the FOIA laws, things like that. He’s very interested in helping us and that’s half the battle there.”