Clerk of the court candidate Chris Falcon wants to make the office more accessible

Chris Falcon, the Annandale resident running for the position of clerk of the Fairfax County Circuit Court, wants to make that office more transparent and more accessible to the public.

Falcon will be on the ballot for the Democratic Primary on June 20. So far, no one else has announced plans to run for the clerk position.

The current clerk of the court, John Frey, a Republican, is retiring at the end of 2023 after serving 32 years.

The Virginia Constitution requires the clerk of the court to be an elected position. The clerk serves an eight-year term.

The clerk of the court records home sales and purchases; manages civil and criminal cases; registers wills; handles red flag cases; authorizes notary publics; and issues marriage licenses, handgun permits, and jury summons. The clerk’s office has 180 staff members.

Falcon has experience in all of those matters, as he is currently the deputy clerk of the court for Arlington County.

In that position, he helped organize expungement clinics to educate people about the possibility of removing a criminal charge from their record for things they weren’t convicted of. That’s important, he says, because having a criminal record can prevent people from getting a job, renting an apartment, or going to college.

If elected in Fairfax County, he promises to hold expungement clinics here. “I believe in meeting people where they are,” he told supporters at a fundraiser Dec. 13 at Inca Social in Merrifield.

He also vows to be more thorough in reviewing substantial risk orders which temporarily prohibit the possession of firearms by people at risk of harm to themselves or others.

Falcon is a second-generation American; his father is from Peru and his mother is from Ecuador. He graduated from Woodson High School in 1999 and attended James Madison University.

After earning a law degree in Pennsylvania, he practiced traffic and personal injury law, then joined the Arlington clerk’s office in 2014.

While there, he helped implement virtual services during the Covid pandemic, which he would like to bring to Fairfax County. He says that would benefit people who don’t have cars or can’t take off work to drive to the courthouse,  

“It’s important how we interact with and treat people when they come to the courthouse,” Falcon says. “Too often as a practicing attorney, I’ve seen clerks say ‘That’s a legal question. I can’t help you. Go talk to a lawyer.’”

“That is nails on a chalkboard to me,” he says, promising that will never happen in his office. If someone comes to the courthouse seeking legal assistance, the clerk’s office should provide resources for legal aid organizations and should also provide translators for people who don’t speak English fluently.

Another big priority for Falcon is providing online access to case information. Now, when people represent themselves in court and can’t afford an attorney, they can’t access information about their case on their phone. “That is a problem. We have to solve that.”

Also, he says, people shouldn’t have to go to the Circuit Court to get a record. They should be able to request a record on their phone and pay with a credit card. “We have to stop wasting people’s time.”