Suffolk City Attorney Helivi L. Holland has been selected to become a member of the Virginia Law Foundation Fellows Class of 2017.

The selection received the recommendation of the Virginia Law Foundation’s Fellows Committee and the unanimous vote of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. Holland received the award at a ceremony as part of the Annual Meeting of the Virginia Bar Association in Williamsburg on Thursday.

Holland, a Suffolk native, was sworn in as city attorney in 2012. Prior to serving as city attorney, Holland was the director of the Department of Juvenile Justice following an appointment in 2010 by Gov. Bob McDonnell. There, she was tasked with overseeing 2,200 state employees, three halfway houses in Staunton, Roanoke and Norfolk, and nine residential programs.

She graduated from John F. Kennedy High School and Virginia Tech, as well as the College of William and Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law.

As a practicing attorney since 1991, Holland has served as a senior prosecutor, an adjunct professor, a deputy city attorney and as a guardian ad litem.

As a prosecutor for more than 10 years, Holland served in the Portsmouth and Suffolk Offices of the Commonwealth’s Attorney. In addition to writing and managing grants in each office, she prosecuted major juvenile crimes in Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court and Circuit Court.

Her prosecutorial style and training skills on criminal prosecution earned her the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice’s Victim Assistance Award and the NOBLE National Lloyd Sealy Award and the Community Services Award for the commonwealth of Virginia.

For more than 12 years, Ms. Holland served as an adjunct professor at Paul D. Camp Community College. She taught on two campuses and at a state correctional facility.

Holland has been active in the community, having served on the board of directors of The Children’s Center, Suffolk Education Foundation, Suffolk Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Genieve Shelter.

She regularly speaks and trains on various subjects of law relating to juvenile crimes, domestic violence, child welfare, juvenile delinquency and juvenile re-entry. Additionally, she is a member of First Baptist Church, Mahan Street, in Suffolk, and a Diamond Life Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. in the Suffolk Alumnae Chapter.

Each year since 1984, the Virginia Law Foundation identifies and recognizes a group of lawyers who have distinguished themselves in their practices and with a demonstrated dedication to public service.