McClanahan, Powell elected to Supreme Court

Judicial candidates vetted by courts committees

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 6, 2012
Tags: General Assembly, Hernandez, Judgeships

The joint House and Senate Courts of Justice Committees had a long line-up for judicial interviews that stretched into the evening hours on March 5. Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge County, chair of the House Courts judicial subcommittee, pointedly told candidates the vacancy at issue was funded under the House budget, but the Senate has yet [...]

VSB eyes new approach to judicial evaluations

By Peter Vieth
Published: March 5, 2012
Tags: Judgeships, Virginia State Bar

Virginia State Bar leaders hope to fine-tune the VSB’s program for evaluating candidates for judgeships. The Judicial Nominations Committee would get a new name under a package of proposed changes. Because the VSB does not actually “nominate” candidates for the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and the federal bench, panel members said it is more [...]

House budget would ‘defrost’ 33 judgeships

By Peter Vieth
Published: February 27, 2012
Tags: General Assembly, Gov. Bob McDonnell, Judgeships

House budget planners appear to want to turn up the heat the highest when it comes to unfreezing Virginia judgeships. A House Appropriations subcommittee last week recommended filling 33 trial court judgeships that would otherwise be left unfilled under the current freeze. The House plan would fill approximately two-thirds of the now-frozen judgeships, according to [...]

Monday leads in bar nods for appeals court

By Paul Fletcher
Published: February 24, 2012
Tags: Bar Associations, Judge Josiah T. Showalter Jr., Judge Lorraine Nordlund, Judge Teresa M. Chafin, Judge Victor V. Ludwig, Judgeships, Virginia Court of Appeals News

Roanoke attorney Monica Taylor Monday is the leader in support from Virginia’s statewide bar groups for a seat on the Virginia Court of Appeals. Judge James J. Haley Jr. is retiring in March; leaders of the Senate and House of Delegates sought input from the bar groups on the pending vacancy. Eight statewide bar groups [...]

Twelve for ’12: A look at the stories we’ll be watching in the coming year

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: February 13, 2012
Tags: Bankruptcy, Employment, Fairfax County Circuit Court, General Assembly, Hernandez, Judgeships, Justice William C. Mims, Legal Marketing, Million-Dollar Settlements, Million-Dollar Verdicts, Social Media, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Technology, Trends

For our annual Trends issue this year, we have identified a dozen different issues or points of departure that we’ll be watching in the coming year. Twelve for ’12, we call it. Here’s the list: STRESS ON THE COURTS Read the lead story in this issue if you want a preview of coming attractions in [...]

State facing over three dozen judicial vacancies

By Peter Vieth
Published: February 8, 2012
Tags: General Assembly, Gov. Bob McDonnell, Judgeships, Supreme Court of Virginia News

Without extra funding, Virginia courts will be shorthanded by at least 37 judges by the end of this year, with another 12 mandatory retirements coming in 2013, the Supreme Court of Virginia has told state legislators. The numbers are included in the court’s presentation to members of the General Assembly’s money committees as they consider [...]

Senate holds judicial interviews

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 23, 2012
Tags: General Assembly, Judge Michael S. Irvine, Judge Norman A. Thomas, Judgeships, Justice Donald W. Lemons

There was nary a whisper about Hernandez at Friday’s judicial interviews conducted by the Senate Courts of Justice Committee. Even though committee control switched this year from Democrats to Republicans, the Senate followed the same practice as last year’s courts committee and declined to question sitting judges about whether they deferred dispositions in criminal cases [...]

Wright Allen goes on bench

By Paul Fletcher
Published: November 7, 2011
Tags: Federal Courts, Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen, Judgeships

Arenda L. Wright Allen took the oath of office as a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District on Oct. 27. She becomes the first African-American woman to sit on the federal bench in Virginia. She had been an assistant federal public defender in Norfolk. She also served as an assistant U.S. attorney, prosecuting cases [...]

Justice Cleo Powell takes Supreme Court seat

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 31, 2011
Tags: Judgeships, Justice Cleo E. Powell, Supreme Court of Virginia News

Justice Cleo Elaine Powell was invested Oct. 21 as the 102nd justice and the first African-American woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Virginia. Powell, who first took the bench in the general district court of Chesterfield County and Colonial Heights 18 years ago, also joins the elite group of justices who have served [...]