Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Doctor discipline cases can challenge lawyer ethics 

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 23, 2012
Tags: Ethics, Virginia Bar Association

A doctor hires a lawyer to represent the doctor on disciplinary charges before the Virginia Board of Medicine. A former patient claims the doctor had a sexual relationship with a second patient.
The doctor is a little dodgy. He indicates the board’s inquiries may have some factual basis. But the board doesn’t ask the right [...]

Assembly approves Rules of Evidence 

By Peter Vieth
Published: March 14, 2012
Tags: General Assembly, Rules of Evidence, Virginia Bar Association

After what one sponsor termed a “roller coaster” ride in the final days of the session, the 2012 General Assembly approved the creation of a unified set of evidence rules for Virginia courts.
Approval of an official Rules of Evidence for Virginia follows about 18 years of discussion and planning. Enactment of the evidence rules leaves [...]

Assembly addresses issues in elder law  

By Peter Vieth
Published: February 20, 2012
Tags: Elder Law, General Assembly, Virginia Bar Association

Bills that would keep Virginia competitive in wealth management are making their way through the General Assembly, reports the head of the Virginia Bar Association’s Wills, Trusts and Estates section.
Richmond lawyer Farhad Aghdami, chair of the VBA section, noted the success of Senate Bill 180 which provides liability protection for a trustee acting in accordance [...]

Capital One’s Justice Server program links pro bono lawyers to clients

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 20, 2012
Tags: Corporate Counsel, Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr., Law Firms, Legal Aid, Pro Bono, Virginia Bar Association

Lawyers and information-technology experts at Capital One are teaming up with private and public sector lawyers to streamline the administration of pro bono legal work in Virginia.
Lawyers who do pro bono work find that one of the best ways to reach clients is to work through state and local legal aid organizations. Legal aid offices [...]

The VBA Legislative Agenda for the 2012 session 

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: January 17, 2012
Tags: General Assembly, Virginia Bar Association

Highlights of legislation backed by the Virginia Bar Association, the Boyd-Graves Conference, the Virginia Family Law Coalition and the Virginia Alternative Dispute Resolution Joint Committee.

Rules of Evidence. The Boyd-Graves Conference strongly supports passage of the Virginia Rules of Evidence as approved by the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Protection of Trustee acting at the direction of [...]

Bill seeks bar membership for law profs, court won’t block 

By Peter Vieth
Published: January 12, 2012
Tags: Ethics, General Assembly, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia Bar Association, Virginia State Bar

Some Virginia law professors would be eligible to practice law even though they have not passed the bar exam under a bill introduced at the General Assembly.
The proposal has been advanced by Washington & Lee University law Prof. A. Benjamin Spencer with the backing of the Virginia State Bar Council and several statewide bar groups. [...]

VBA steps up lobbying efforts in 2012 

By Peter Vieth
Published: January 11, 2012
Tags: Bar Associations, General Assembly, Virginia Bar Association

ROANOKE—After hiring a new lobbying firm, the Virginia Bar Association hopes to have a stronger impact on bills of interest to lawyers in this year’s General Assembly session.
“We have ramped up our lobbying effort,” VBA president Lucia Anna Trigiani told members of the Roanoke Bar Association Tuesday.
The change was calculated and set in motion more [...]

VBA marks Veteran Legal Services Month 

By Paul Fletcher
Published: November 14, 2011
Tags: Bar Associations, Virginia Bar Association

It’s Veteran Legal Services Month, and the Virginia Bar Association is once again at work recruiting pro bono volunteers to help veterans with legal issues and raising money for projects that help them.
Volunteer response was strong last November, during the bar group’s first push for help for veterans. But pro bono lawyers are still [...]

Little consensus on response to decline in jury trials  

By Peter Vieth
Published: July 27, 2011
Tags: Judge Catherine Hammond, Justice Donald W. Lemons, Virginia Bar Association

HOT SPRINGS–Lawyers and judges lament the decline in the number of jury trials, but find little common ground on what to do about the trend – or whether anything needs to be done at all.
“If you lose the jury trial, the system dies,” said Virginia Supreme Court Justice Donald W. Lemons, expressing a sentiment [...]

Fairfax bar executive McGhee heads to VBA 

By Alan Cooper
Published: May 5, 2011
Tags: Virginia Bar Association

Yvonne C. McGhee, the executive director of the Fairfax Bar Association since 2000, has been chosen as the new executive director of the Virginia Bar Association.
VBA President Pia Trigiani said McGhee “possesses a unique and impressive background,” that combines legal experience and association management with a record of success in membership expansion, program development, legislative [...]