November « 2008 « Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Foster joins race for GOP Attorney General nod

By Alan Cooper
Published: November 24, 2008

Dave Foster, a Washington lawyer and former Arlington School Board chairman, has formally joined what is an increasingly crowded field for the Republican nomination for Virginia attorney general.
State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, and former U.S. Attorney John Brownlee of Roanoke had announced their candidacies earlier. The nominee will be chosen in May at the Greater [...]

Boors or bigots: the issue is on remand in Title VII case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 24, 2008

A female air traffic controller gets another chance to prove her Title VII “hostile environment” claim in Alexandria federal court.
The Alexandria court pulled the trigger a little too fast when it granted summary judgment to the employer after refusing to consider affidavits from the woman’s coworkers, according to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ [...]

Ex-lawyer Conrad gets 11 years

By Peter Vieth
Published: November 24, 2008

Brushing aside pleas for leniency, U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton this month ordered an 11-year prison sentence for a former Woodbridge lawyer blamed for stealing more than $4 million from clients and others in a “broad criminal enterprise” over the course of four years of practice.
Stephen T. Conrad, 40, of Purcellville, admitted to “settling” [...]

LEO on guardian’s duties seeks to answer legislative concerns

By Alan Cooper
Published: November 24, 2008

A new Legal Ethics Opinion from the Virginia State Bar lays out the ethical duties of a guardian ad litem to report suspected child abuse or neglect.
The LEO is a response to an effort in the 2008 General Assembly to add guardians to the statutory list of persons who must report such activity.
Sen. Stephen H. [...]

Man sentenced for attack in Albemarle courtroom

By News in Brief
Published: November 24, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE—A Fluvanna man accused of attacking a witness in a courtroom has pleaded guilty to assault and battery and threatening a witness.
Mark Wayne Shifflett was sentenced last week to 12 months on each charge after entering his plea. Albemarle County General District Court Judge Robert H. Downer Jr. then suspended all but 15 months of [...]

Scientist pleads guilty to tech sales to China

By News in Brief
Published: November 24, 2008

NORFOLK—A Virginia scientist pleaded guilty last week to selling rocket technology to China and bribing Chinese officials to secure a lucrative contract for his high-tech company.
Quan-Sheng Shu, 68, pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the federal Arms Control Act and one count of bribery at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.
Shu is [...]

ICE rejects training for Fairfax deputies

By News in Brief
Published: November 24, 2008

FAIRFAX—Fairfax County’s sheriff says federal immigration authorities have denied his bid to enroll deputies in a program that trains local officers to detain criminal illegal immigrants.
Sheriff Stan Barry says the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told him last month that it would not place 12 deputies in the program.
The program has been touted by other [...]

Justice takes over challenge to late military absentee votes

By News in Brief
Published: November 24, 2008

The U.S. Justice Department replaced John McCain’s presidential campaign last week as the plaintiff in a lawsuit demanding that Virginia election officials count late absentee ballots from military personnel serving outside the state.
U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams ruled that the Republican ticket lacked standing to sue and approved the Justice Department’s motion to intervene. [...]

Lobbyist spending available on public access project

By News in Brief
Published: November 24, 2008

Lobbyists’ activities and spending in Virginia are now available online in a database based on annual disclosure documents.
The database was created by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project and can be accessed on the group’s campaign finance Web site, www.vpap.org
Information in the database is based on the most recent annual lobbyist disclosures covering May 2007 [...]

Court of Appeals to hear actual innocence writ

By News in Brief
Published: November 24, 2008

The Virginia Court of Appeals has decided to hear oral arguments in a former Navy SEAL trainee’s bid to be exonerated after spending 13 years in prison for a murder he claims he didn’t commit.
Dustin Turner is seeking a “writ of actual innocence” based on a fellow trainee’s sworn testimony that he alone killed college [...]

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