Leesburg, VA (October 29, 2026) – Town Attorney Chris Spera has announced his retirement.
Chris has served as Town Attorney since August 2020. He has practiced law in both the public and private sectors for almost 40 years. His municipal government experience also includes a combined 12 years in the City of Alexandria, where he was first hired as Assistant City Attorney in 2005 before he was promoted to Deputy City Attorney in 2011.
Chris said the opportunity to return to the public sector in 2020 following four years serving as general counsel for the Old Dominion Transportation Group was what attracted him to the Town Attorney post in Leesburg. He said the colleagues he’s worked with is what has kept him here and credits former Town Manager Kaj Dentler with assembling an amazing team of employees.
“I was impressed when I got here and I remain impressed to this day on how much Town staff gets done at its staffing level. It’s a lean, hard-working organization that provides a high level of service. That struck me early on and that continues,” he said.
While serving as Town Attorney, Chris said he is most proud of the result he and his team were able to achieve for Leesburg in the annexation case with Loudoun County that brought the Compass Creek development into Town limits as of 2025. He is also proud of the work that went into maintaining air traffic control services at Leesburg Executive Airport when the Federal Aviation Administration abruptly ended the remote tower program in 2023.
Rounding out his “top three” list of achievements, Chris said he is grateful to the Town Council for allowing him to build a team of well-qualified legal professionals in the Town Attorney’s Office, and believes the Town Attorney’s Office has the Town well positioned to meet the future legal needs of the Town.
Chris received both his undergraduate (CLAS, ’84) and juris doctor (LAW, ’87) degrees from the University of Virginia, where he was a walk-on on the men’s basketball team. Outside of work, Chris has been heavily involved in youth sports for over 30 years, serving in a variety of coaching and leadership roles with the Springfield/South County Youth Club, the DC Grays Baseball Club of the Cal Ripken Summer Collegiate Baseball League, and at Hayfield Secondary School.
In announcing his retirement, Chris has emphasized that he is retiring from the full-time practice of law.
“Forty years of doing this full time is enough. While I expect I will look for opportunities to volunteer and add value to the community, the only thing I will be doing full-time is being a husband, father, and grandfather,” Chris stated.
"Chris has provided excellent legal guidance to the Town Council in his six years serving as Town Attorney. The voluntary settlement agreement that brought Compass Creek into Town, and the approval of the collective bargaining agreement with the Leesburg Police Department, are part of Chris' legacy which will have lasting positive benefits for Leesburg," stated Mayor Kelly Burk.
Chris will continue serving as Town Attorney through early 2027. Recruitment for the position is underway.
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