News Stories | Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Revocable living trusts …plan for an incapacity of wealthy clients

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: May 21, 2012
Tags: Elder Law, Wills & Trusts

You have reviewed your new client’s intake questionnaire. She is an 80-year-old widow with three children, two grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Her net worth, including her mortgage-free home, is about $3.5 million. She has a good government pension as well as income benefits from her late husband. She is delightful. Witty. Irreverent.
Her two daughters [...]

Planning for a veteran’s aid and attendance benefits

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: May 21, 2012
Tags: Elder Law, Veterans

Attorneys who work with elderly clients, clients with disabilities, or veterans should be aware of the Veterans Administration’s Aid and Attendance Benefit.
A&A is a pension program, available to certain veterans, and widowed spouses of veterans who need long term care services at home, in assisted living, or in a nursing home. A&A is a non-service [...]

Understanding clients’ issues: How to be a good elder law attorney 101

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: May 21, 2012
Tags: Elder Law, Practice Tips

As a professional who serves senior citizens, it is important to stay on top of emerging laws and legislation. It truly is in your best interest if your clients view you as an expert when it comes to their most sensitive interests, even if you don’t offer those services. In a world where connections matter, [...]

Influential Woman of the Year: Score is “Love-All” when dealing with lawyers and doctors

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 21, 2012
Tags: Influential Women of Virginia

Deborah Love has worked closely with both lawyers and doctors over her career, and – by all accounts – has helped to bring out the best of both professions.
Love has distinguished herself in her 17 years as executive director of the Richmond Academy of Medicine, primarily for her vision and leadership in developing “Access Now,” [...]

It’s just Google! Keeping jurors offline to stay in line

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 18, 2012
Tags: Judge Edward Hogshire, Judge Pamela S. Baskervill, Social Media, Technology

NORFOLK – Jurors who have a hard time putting their Internet habit on hold during jury service need strong guidance from trial judges, a jury research expert says.
In Virginia courtrooms and around the country, jurors are yielding to the impulse to “just Google it” when they have a question.
A once-or-twice warning not to consult outside [...]

Chafin elected to Court of Appeals

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 17, 2012
Tags: General Assembly, Judge Teresa M. Chafin, Virginia Court of Appeals News

Tazewell County Circuit Judge Teresa M. Chafin was elected to the Court of Appeals of Virginia on May 15.
Her election was the highest-level seat to be decided in a post-midnight General Assembly session that produced controversy and acrimony over the denial of a judgeship to a gay lawyer.
Chafin was one of nine candidates up for [...]

When you notice your client has diminished capacity

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: May 17, 2012
Tags: Elder Law

At some point in your practice you may be confronted by the diminished capacity of a client. With the American population aging, the number of individuals with diminished capacity is increasing. An attorney may be faced with a client in crisis because of diminished capacity and possibly challenged by one of the following scenarios:
Scenario 1
You [...]

Reston lawyer’s license revoked

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 16, 2012
Tags: Lawyer Discipline, Virginia State Bar

A Virginia State Bar discipline panel last month yanked the license of a Reston lawyer based on allegations of “gross incompetence, utter lack of diligence, and dishonesty.” A VSB lawyer argued Thomas J. Sehler was “not fit to practice law” and his continued practice posed “an imminent danger to the public.”
The VSB urged the Disciplinary [...]

Forgiving felons? Something new in the GOP playbook

By The Associated Press
Published: May 14, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Gov. Bob McDonnell

(AP) This is not in your grandfather’s Republican playbook: forgiveness toward felons.
But Gov. Bob McDonnell is on pace to restore the civil rights of more people who’ve done their time than any governor in modern Virginia history.
Republicans would scald a Democrat who did that as being soft on crime. But for McDonnell, a former attorney [...]

Richmond ALJ hearing Social Security claims has one of the highest denial rates in the country

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: May 14, 2012
Tags: Administrative Law Judges, Social Security

As an occupational therapist, Michelle Bomar worked with people suffering from injuries or diseases. But in 1998, she said, she found herself in as much distress as any patient: A slew of illnesses had started attacking her immune system, causing intense pain and fatigue.
Bomar said she couldn’t work. So she quit her job as a [...]

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