Feature Story | Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Looking Back at 2009: Top News Stories

By Alan Cooper
Published: December 14, 2009
Tags: Year in Review

The turmoil that resulted from the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts was the top legal story in Virginia in 2009.
The 5-4 decision in June required a special session of the General Assembly and continues to vex judges, legislators, prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys – not to mention the Virginia Department of Forensic [...]

Looking Back at 2009: Top Supreme Court Cases

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 14, 2009
Tags: Supreme Court of Virginia, Year in Review

Virginia’s highest court is in transition. By early 2011, we may see four new justices on the seven-member court, in a little more than three years’ time.
The two newest justices, LeRoy F. Millette Jr. from the Court of Appeals in 2008 and S. Bernard Goodwyn from Chesapeake Circuit Court in 2007, joined the Supreme Court [...]

Looking Back at 2009: Top Daily Alert Items

By Peter Vieth
Published: December 14, 2009
Tags: Year in Review

Virginia lawyers keep track of what’s going on every business day with Virginia Lawyers Weekly’s Daily Alert, an e-mail message that provides links to news and court opinions of interest to the legal community. We regularly watch and note which Alert items generate the most interest. The following are the 20 hottest Daily Alert clicks [...]

Law firms: Beware of hacker ‘spear phishing’

By Alan Cooper
Published: December 7, 2009

An FBI warning last month that American law firms are frequently the targets of financial and business espionage is no surprise to computer security experts such as Sharon D. Nelson of Sensei Enterprises Inc. in Fairfax.
Major corporations tend to have sophisticated systems to guard against attacks on their networks while law firms are “technologically in [...]

Graphics in ADR : Different from use during a trial

By Justin Rebello
Published: December 7, 2009

As trial lawyers can attest, the use of visuals to complement a case can be a godsend. Whether it’s a simple chart or a complex animation, visuals help jurors understand a case.
In alternative dispute resolution, visuals can have the same effect, but because the forum is different from a courtroom, they must be used in [...]

The Obama presidency: what it will mean for lawyers

By Kimberly Atkins
Published: November 30, 2009

President Barack Obama has been in office for less than a year, but already his White House has implemented or signaled a host of changes that affect the way trial attorneys practice law and run their businesses.
On the employment law front, Obama indicated his willingness to broaden civil rights protections by signing, as his [...]

The flu and the law: Prepping for a busy season

By Correy E. Stephenson
Published: November 30, 2009

The EEOC recently issued a guidance, “Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act,” to remind employers of employees’ rights and help them plan for dealing with the H1N1 virus.
The most important advice for employers: planning ahead.
Nina Massen, a lawyer in White Plains, N.Y., is helping her clients with various action items, [...]

What to do when your employees get the flu

By Correy E. Stephenson
Published: November 30, 2009

There are a number of simple precautions that employers can take to help protect their employees from the H1N1 virus.
But what do you do once an employee is diagnosed with the flu?
Management attorneys caution that when that starts to occur, employers could face a host of legal issues.
One important question: can you [...]

Internet juror research is revealing, trained p.i. can uncover even more

By Peter Vieth
Published: November 23, 2009

The widespread use of the Internet has taken a lot of the guesswork out of jury selection, some lawyers are finding. Web users, especially those involved with social networking sites, are revealing much more of their personal information, often unknowingly.
The Web also makes it easier for professional investigators to uncover personal information from official records [...]

Texting clients is convenient, but carries risk for lawyers

By Sylvia Hsieh
Published: November 23, 2009

More clients are asking their lawyers to communicate in ever-faster ways, and many lawyers are accommodating them by using text messaging and instant messaging for client communications.
Minneapolis lawyer Vytas Rimas, who practices patent law, said he frequently uses both text messaging and instant messaging to communicate with clients.
At times, Rimas said, texting has provided [...]

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