Tort – Defamation – Bar Complaint
By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 15, 2008
A divorce lawyer’s defamation case can proceed against a client’s father-in-law who allegedly cited “the Duke case” and threatened the lawyer with a bar complaint unless the lawyer’s and husband’s “actions” toward wife and granddaughter “progress[ed] in the right direction,” a Chesapeake Circuit Court says.
Donner v. Rubin (Chesapeake Cir.Ct.) (VLW 008-8-258) (9 pp.)
A look back at 2008…
By Paul Fletcher
Published: December 15, 2008
2008 very shortly will be in the history book, and it’s unlikely that this will go down as anyone’s favorite year.
Economic uncertainty remains the watchword of the day, although lawyers and the legal profession tend to be better-positioned than most to weather the storm. After all, people still file for divorce and sue over personal [...]
Looking Back at 2008: Top News 
By Alan Cooper
Published: December 15, 2008
A major overhaul of state mental health law.
Political infighting over the appointment of state and federal judges.
A quick, decisive end to the discussion of mandatory legal malpractice.
Those are just some of the developments and issues that Virginia Lawyers Weekly followed and reported in 2008. Here’s a summary of some of the top stories of 2008:
• [...]
Looking Back at 2008: Top Cases
By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 15, 2008
Jury trials are down, law firm hiring has slowed. Maybe even pro se plaintiffs will begin to back off.
Still, people are finding there are times when they have to “tell it to the judge.” And it may be a story the judge hasn’t heard before. A case of “first impression” considers a previously undecided issue [...]
Legislators to court: do not tell us what to do
By Alan Cooper
Published: December 15, 2008
You can’t give us information about judges and order us not to disclose it, members of the House Courts of Justice Committee told representatives of the Supreme Court of Virginia last Thursday.
At issue are judicial performance evaluation reports on judges up for reelection this year.
The Supreme Court entered an order in August telling the survey [...]
Bank can’t be tagged for handling escrow
By Peter Vieth
Published: December 15, 2008
In a sign of tough times for the real estate development market, investors in a multi-story lakefront condo project are battling with the bank that paid out their investment money to now-bankrupt developers. The disappointed investors who thought they had a money-back guarantee had their lawsuit against Branch Banking and Trust Co. dismissed by a [...]
Chesterfield clerk sues chief judge
By Alan Cooper
Published: December 15, 2008
Chesterfield County Circuit Clerk Judy L. Worthington has filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Virginia against Chief Judge Michael C. Allen.
Worthington has asked for writ of prohibition and a writ of mandamus in a dispute involving the naming of people who can perform marriages in the county. Allen had ordered her to place [...]
VBA, VTLA join forces in ‘Family Law Coalition’
By Alan Cooper
Published: December 15, 2008
The Virginia Bar Association and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association are joining forces to restructure the VBA Coalition Committee on Family Law Legislation.
The VBA formed the coalition in 1996 to bring bar groups together to evaluate family law legislation before the Virginia General Assembly and to support or oppose bills reflecting a consensus of coalition [...]
The well-written retainer letter
By Nora Lockwood Tooher
Published: December 15, 2008
A well-crafted retainer letter is crucial for attorneys in all practice areas and in all types of firms, from solo to in-house, says Carolyn Elefant. A solo attorney in Washington, D.C., and author of the legal blog “My Shingle” at www.myshingle.com, Elefant says that the retainer letter “is one of the most important tools a [...]
Rules for good writing apply to wording of e-mails
By Lisa H. Healy and Julie A. Baker
Published: December 15, 2008
Good writing does not begin and end with formal documents.
For many lawyers, much of our time each day is spent writing e-mails. E-mails live on forever, are much more public than private letters and have the ability to be sent (by mistake) to hundreds or thousands of people. Yet we treat e-mail much more casually [...]
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