The VLW Blog

Studying for the Bar Exam? There’s an app for that…but it’ll cost you. BarMax, a new iPhone application developed by Harvard law grads, is available through Apple’s Web site for $999.99. But is it worth the money? According to TechCruch, it just might be. The mobile bar exam prep course offers its users a gigabyte’s [...]

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The live testimony of Joe Madison would have been devastating for Alton Nelson Wilder. But fortunately for Wilder, Madison, a homeless man who said he saw two men wheeling away items from a stockyard in Norfolk, didn’t show up for trial and his observations came in through a 911 tape. Madison’s statements were admissible under [...]

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The U.S. Supreme Court declined today to review the finding by the Supreme Court of Virginia that Virginia Beach’s noise ordinance was unconstitutional on its face. Many localities in the state, including Virginia Beach, have reworked their noise ordinances since the Virginia court’s ruling in April. But Virginia Beach also filed a petition for a [...]

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The Pittsburgh-based firm of Eckert Seamans Cherin and Mellott LLC has conducted its second raid in the last three months on the Richmond operations of major law firms. The firm announced today three partners and three non-lawyer lobbyists from LeClairRyan will join the firm’s Richmond office – opened in October – on Monday. The partners [...]

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In one of his last official acts as governor, Tim Kaine today requested the U.S. Justice Department approve a transfer of convicted killer Jens Soering to Germany, where he would be eligible for parole in two years. Soering is the former U.Va. honor student who plotted with his girlfriend to kill her parents at their [...]

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The Norfolk Circuit Court clerk’s office is now a voice in the Virginia legal community on Twitter. The court began tweeting the past Wednesday, making it the first (at least to our knowledge) circuit court in the commonwealth to jump on board the popular social networking platform. You can follow their tweets at twitter.com/nccco. By [...]

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There will be no effort to change the medical malpractice cap in this session of the General Assembly. Representatives of healthcare organizations and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association met with the chairmen of the House and Senate Courts of Justices Committees earlier this week to advise them of the ceasefire. Jack Harris, executive director of [...]

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Former Lynchburg Bar Association president Randy Nelson was named this morning to fill the unexpired city council term of Del. Scott Garrett. Nelson is appointed to serve until June 30, when Garrett’s term would have expired, reports The News & Advance. Meanwhile, Roanoke lawyer Ray Ferris formally announced his candidacy for city council Thursday. One [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia handed down 18 decisions and two orders this morning. Full-text PDF copies of every case are also available on our Web site. Here are some of the highlights: A party can’t vouch for a decedent’s promise It’s like a classic tale from your T&E class: Uncle dies and the aunt’s [...]

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We have at least three ideas about when judges should retire already in this year’s legislative hopper. Del. Terry W. Kilgore, R-Gate City, proposes 73 in House Bill 126, as does Sen. John S. Edwards, D-Roanoke, in Senate Bill 206, apparently at the request of the Virginia Judicial Council, which suggested that age in its [...]

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