Attorney J. Rawleigh Simmons has been chosen to lead Historyland Title & Escrow, Simmons and Historyland announced on April 1.
Simmons, a 28-year member of the Dunton, Simmons and Dunton law firm in White Stone, joined with several of his law firm partners to purchase Historyland from Cheryl B. Pierson, who was elected Clerk of the Richmond County Circuit Court in November 2015. Pierson had owned the agency since 2005.
Historyland offers title insurance and real estate settlement services for all types of residential and commercial sales. Although it is based in Warsaw, the agency serves all of the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula. Under Simmons’ leadership, Historyland also will offer local real estate closings in the Kilmarnock and White Stone areas.
Simmons is the managing member and co-owner of River Title & Escrow LLC, the firm that purchased Historyland’s assets.
“We are all very excited about this opportunity,” said Simmons. “Personally, I am looking forward to using nearly three decades of legal experience with real estate transactions in order to offer high quality real estate title services in a cost competitive setting.”
The move means that Simmons will be leaving Dunton, Simmons and Dunton, where he has been a perennial selection of Virginia Business Magazine’s Legal Elite list for his real estate and land use practice. His resignation is effective April 14. The firm’s name will continue to honor Rawleigh’s father, C. Jackson Simmons, who died in 1999.
“Rawleigh’s departure is a bittersweet moment for us,” said DSD managing partner, Ammon G. Dunton Jr. “As investors in the new Historyland, we are very confident that Rawleigh will lead this venerable agency to new and even greater accomplishments. At the same time, we will miss Rawleigh as a partner and a devoted friend whom we have come to depend upon every day. We feel very fortunate to continue our friendship and a business relationship with him at Historyland.”
Simmons earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in 1984 and a law degree from the University of Richmond in 1988. He is a former president of the Northern Neck Bar Association and served as mayor of Irvington from 1990 to 1996.