Patent lawyer suspended, no Virginia ticket 
By Peter Vieth
Published: February 3, 2012
Tags: Lawyer Discipline, Virginia State Bar
Even though she has never been licensed by the Virginia State Bar, a Williamsburg patent lawyer has been suspended from performing any legal work in the state for two years.
A three-judge circuit court panel last month approved a two-year suspension of Bambi Faivre Walters for unauthorized practice of law and misuse of client money, [...]
Contingent fee contract draws discipline
By Peter Vieth
Published: February 2, 2012
Tags: Lawyer Discipline, Virginia State Bar
A Richmond lawyer has been admonished by the Virginia State Bar for demanding a contingency fee from a client based on non-monetary relief.
A three-judge VSB panel imposed the public admonition on Thomas H. Roberts, saying the judges were concerned Roberts’ fee agreement presented the possibility of a fee “adverse to the client.”
According to the fee [...]
In-house lawyer beats VSB in ethics dust-up
By Peter Vieth
Published: January 20, 2012
Tags: Business, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr., Lawyer Discipline, Richmond Circuit Court, Virginia State Bar
Even though his company was twice sanctioned in litigation with a software supplier, a former in-house lawyer came out almost unscathed in a battle with the Virginia State Bar over ethics charges based on how he handled a multi-million-dollar business dispute.
Stephen T. Perkins – former general counsel for Richmond-based Cavalier Telephone LLC – emerged from [...]
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. [...]
VSB to lawyer: Fire your assistant/husband
By Peter Vieth
Published: January 6, 2012
Tags: Lawyer Discipline, Virginia State Bar
The Virginia State Bar has ordered a Richmond lawyer to get rid of her assistant – her husband, an ex-lawyer who was convicted of fraud and disbarred 20 years ago.
Yvonne Cochran-Morton was given a public reprimand by a VSB disciplinary subcommittee for sloppy supervision of an employee and ordered to disassociate her law practice from [...]
Glenn Lewis suspended by VSB
By Peter Vieth
Published: December 30, 2011
Tags: Lawyer Discipline, Virginia State Bar
Glenn C. Lewis, a leading Northern Virginia divorce lawyer and former president of the Virginia Bar Association, has had his law license yanked by the Virginia State Bar for ignoring its demand for information amid financial troubles and allegations of misuse of client money.
The Virginia State Bar administratively suspended Lewis’s license on Dec. 27 [...]
Looking back on 2011: The year in legal news
By Paul Fletcher and Peter Vieth
Published: December 12, 2011
Tags: Charlottesville Circuit Court, General Assembly, Gov. Bob McDonnell, Judge Edward Hogshire, Judge Thomas D. Horne, Justice Cleo E. Powell, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr., Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Law Schools, Million-Dollar Verdicts, Sanctions, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia State Bar
The reversal of a 20-year-old noncompete case lead the case news from Virginia Lawyers in 2011. Much of the first half of year featured news from the General Assembly.
Officials at the Virginia State Bar sparred with legislators over $5 million that Gov. Bob McDonnell wanted to take. And the Hernandez case – which allowed judges [...]
High court mulls changes in wake of angry reaction to VSB proposal
By Peter Vieth
Published: November 28, 2011
Tags: Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia State Bar
The Supreme Court of Virginia is considering whether to change some of the rules that apply to lawyers who become members of other states’ bars, then seek to “waive in” or obtain admission “on motion” to the Virginia State Bar.
A VSB plan to revamp procedures for policing those lawyers who produced such an outcry that [...]
Reston lawyer reprimanded for court appearance after drinking
By Peter Vieth
Published: November 16, 2011
Tags: Lawyer Discipline, Virginia State Bar
A Reston lawyer has received a public reprimand with terms from the Virginia State Bar based in part on allegations he repeatedly appeared in court after drinking.
In one incident in 2009, Wayne R. Hartke was ordered to jail for 10 days by a Fairfax County general district judge. He told the judge he had [...]
VSB won’t change rules on ‘advertising material’
By Peter Vieth
Published: October 25, 2011
Tags: Ethics, Rules of Professional Conduct, Virginia State Bar
WINCHESTER–A proposal to drop the requirement for an “advertising” label on lawyer solicitation letters went down to defeat at a meeting of the Virginia State Bar Council this month, but not without a spirited debate.
At issue: lawyers sending letters to people charged with traffic violations or injured in accidents.
Currently, the Rules of Professional Conduct require [...]
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