[3] Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Southerland's family moved to Delaware during his childhood.
He served in the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I, and was a deputy attorney general of Delaware from 1921 to 1925, being elected Attorney General of Delaware from 1925 to 1929.
In 1951, he was appointed as the first chief justice of the newly established Delaware Supreme Court by Governor Elbert N.
[2] Southerland died at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, at the age of 84.
This biography of a state judge in Delaware is a stub.