Judge Douglas B. Ottinger, J.D.

Bio

The Honorable Douglas B. Ottinger was recently elected to serve as judge on the Portsmouth Circuit Court, 3rd Judicial Circuit of Virginia. Ottinger began his judicial commission on June 1, 2009, for the Portsmouth General District Court, serving as Chief judge for three separate two-year terms. He is set to begin his tenure in Circuit Court in January 2024.

Prior to his judicial service, Ottinger was Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Chesapeake from 1993 until 2001. He completed a year in private practice before being named

Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Portsmouth in 2002, serving under the late Earle C. Mobley, a member of the first graduating class of Regent University School of Law.

Ottinger received his law degree from the University of Dayton School of Law and his B.A. in Political Science from The Pennsylvania State University. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the James Kent Inn of Court and serves as an appointed member to the Chief Justice’s Advisory Committee on Mentoring for the Virginia Supreme Court.

Judge Ottinger has been involved in the prison ministry God Behind Bars through the ALIVE Church, the Mercy Drops Dream Center in Portsmouth as a volunteer and adviser, as well as a past Board member of the Portsmouth YMCA. He also ran the Mental Health Tracking Docket in Portsmouth General District Court for a decade and began the process of gaining official Commonwealth recognition and sponsorship of a behavioral health docket for the City.