JoAnne L. Nolte

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: October 13, 2009

Name
JoAnne L. Nolte

Honor
Client service and leadership in the field of administrative and regulatory law

Business/Employer
The Nolte Law Firm PC
1427 W. Main Street
Richmond, VA 23220
(804) 658-4518

E-mail
jnolte@noltelaw.com

Education
BA, Randolph-Macon College
JD, University of Richmond

Who was your most important mentor and how did that mentor impact your career?

I was blessed to have two mentors early in my career. First, Commissioner Junie L. Bradshaw, formerly with the State Corporation Commission, encouraged me to make the leap from government service into the private sector. Then, in my first job as in-house counsel, the company CEO, J. Wesley Hall, really encouraged me to spread my wings and fly. Together these two gentlemen truly helped make me the lawyer and person that I am today.

What do you consider your biggest personal accomplishment and why?

I believe that it was having the courage to start my own excess & surplus lines insurance brokerage firm at a time when I had no hands-on business experience, no customers, no insurance carriers and no start-up capital.

What is the best bit of advice you ever received?

Never look back.

How do you achieve a balance between your professional life and your personal life?

It’s very hard, especially since my husband is my partner. We try to make sure that we escape to fun places regularly.

If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what field would you have entered?

I would have gone to graduate school, gotten an MBA and sought out a corporate career.

What is your favorite book or movie and why?

I have truly enjoyed reading Jan Karon’s Mitford series, set in the fictional community of Mitford, N.C., because these books remind you of how wonderful and important every moment of life really is.

What are two facts about you that most people, including your closest friends, may not know?

One of my favorite courses in college was translating from German, “German Fairy Tales.”
Second, that I can cook, as my husband is the chief chef in our family.