The VLW Blog

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has asked the Department of Homeland Security to designate state troopers as federal immigration officers. McDonnell made the request in a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano under § 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Enforcement of immigration laws generally is a federal responsibility, but federal law allows state and [...]

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A barn in a remote part of Culpeper County has given up up secrets about a  World War II and Cold War era clandestine espionage agency viewed as one of the predecessors of the CIA. The operation, bearing the enigmatic name “the Pond,” was responsible for the 1947 rescue of an anti-communist leader in Hungary [...]

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There’s etiquette, there’s ethics and then there’s the law. When a couple’s engagement ends, does the woman have to return the ring to her former fiancé? Virginia trial courts are split but the latest word from Richmond Circuit Court is no, then yes. That is, Richmond Circuit Court Judge Melvin Hughes initially rejected the jilted [...]

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Roanoke-based Woods Rogers PLC has announced the opening of a new office in Charlottesville, where the firm has not had a physical presence for more than five years. Partner Rusty Schundler, formerly of Roanoke, will head the Charlottesville office, with Mac Thompson and Peter Rosden also aboard. In addition to its Roanoke headquarters, Wood Rogers [...]

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Gary D. LeClair, the co-founder, CEO and chairman of LeClairRyan, will step down as CEO at the end of a two-year management transition program at the firm. He will be replaced by David C. Freinberg, a shareholder in the firm’s office in Newark, N.J., who will serve as chief practice officer during the transition. The [...]

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A North Carolina judge nominated for promotion more than a decade ago finally has been cleared to join the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Associated Press reports. Judge James Wynn Jr. was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a seat on the intermediate appellate court, which covers Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South [...]

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Federal authorities in Roanoke Monday arrested former restaurateur Roland “Spanky” Macher on bankruptcy fraud and tax evasion charges. Macher is known as the founder of a chain of “Spanky’s” restaurants in Central and Southwest Virginia. More recently, he gained infamy for towing cars from his parking lot across from Roanoke’s Taubman Museum of Art and [...]

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Six years after opening, Liberty University’s law school has been awarded full accreditation by the American Bar Association. Approval came Aug. 5 from the ABA Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar at the ABA’s annual meeting in San Francisco. Liberty’s law school opened in 2004 and obtained provisional ABA [...]

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Hunton & Williams and three of its Richmond lawyers are accused in a Wisconsin lawsuit of using “strong arm tactics” to force a Chicago-based company out of a large industrial supply contract. A Hunton spokesman today said the claims have “no merit.” The lawsuit filed by Minerals Development & Supply Company charges Hunton with tortious [...]

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Insurance coverage disputes are among the 20 cases, about half of them criminal, for which the Supreme Court of Virginia has recently granted petitions for appeal. One of the coverage cases, The AES Corp. v. Steadfast Insurance Corp., Record No. 100764, is from Arlington and stems from a California case filed by Native Americans in [...]

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