Rhys Shelley Hodge was born
on the British island of Anguilla. He
attended the East End Elementary School and received his high school education
at the Valley Secondary School from which he graduated in 1965.
Following his graduation from high
school, he migrated to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, where he attended the
College of the Virgin Islands. In 1968, he transferred to Kansas State
University from which he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1971. Upon his graduation from Kansas State University,
he returned to St. Thomas where he met
Jean Dalmida, a native of St. John.
They were married in 1973 and have raised four children.
He is a 1977 graduate of Rutgers
University School of Law - Camden, New Jersey, where he excelled in his law studies
receiving the American Jurisprudence Award for obtaining the highest grade of
his class in constitutional law. He was elected by the student body to be the
sole student representative on the school's Scholastic Standing Committee,
which adjudicated appeals of students dismissed or placed on academic
probation. He served a two-year clerkship with the Chief Judge of the District
Court of the Virgin Islands, the late Honorable Almeric L. Christian. He open his own law firm, "The Law Offices
of Rhys S. Hodge" in 1979. He
maintained an active private law practice for twenty-one years.
Justice Hodge has been admitted to
practice before the Courts of the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He is
a member of the Virgin Islands Bar Association, the American Bar Association,
the National Bar Association, the American Judges Association and the
Conference of Chief Justices.
In addition, he is a past
President of the Virgin Islands Bar, past Chairman of the Ethics and Grievance
Committee and past Chairman of the Continuing Legal Education Committee of the
Virgin Islands Bar Association. He has
also served as a member of Lawyers Advisory Committee of the District Court of
the Virgin Islands and as a member of the Committee of Bar Examiners of the
Virgin Islands. For the past six years, he has served as a member of the Virgin
Islands Judicial Council.
He has been active in community
affairs serving from 1981-2000 as a member of the Executive Board of the V.I.
Council of the Boy Scouts of America and as its President in 1991-1992. He has also served in the past as a member
of the Board of Directors of the V.I. Council of the Girls Scouts of the U.S.A.
and Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the Virgin Islands Montessori
School.
He was first sworn in as a judge
of the Superior Court on June 23, 2000. Effective July 1, 2006,
Judge Hodge became the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court, a position he
held until his elevation to the Supreme Court.
On July 19, 2006, Judge Hodge,
together with Judges Maria M. Cabret and Ive A. Swan, were nominated by
Governor Turnbull as the three initial justices of the new Supreme Court of the
Virgin Islands. The Governor designated
him to be the first Chief Justice for a four year term. On October 27, 2006,
Judge Hodge together with Judges Cabret and Swan were unanimously confirmed by
the Twenty-Sixth Legislature as justices of the Supreme Court of the Virgin
Islands for terms of ten years each.
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