The VLW Blog

The Virginia Department Forensic Science will begin providing familial DNA searches for state law enforcement agencies, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced today. The agency has a database of more than 330,000 profiles that can be tested against DNA material from crime scenes. If a typical search does not produce a match, a familial search may identify [...]

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Friday’s decision by Roanoke U.S. District Judge James Turk means no delay for the April 11 scheduled trial on claims Virginia Tech paid lower salaries to women at the school’s fund raising office. Virginia Tech had asked Turk to combine that case, involving three former employees, with a separate lawsuit involving claims of sexual harassment [...]

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A Newport News jury returned a $25 million verdict this morning against Exxon Corp. for a ship repair supervisor who contracted mesothelioma after working on the company’s ships from 1966-77. Rubert Minton, 72, of Isle of Wight County, was working for Newport News Shipbuilding at the time. Minton’s attorney, Bobby Hatten, said Minton worked in [...]

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Lawyers litigating a patent suit can protect drafts of their expert reports under a new amendment to federal discovery rules, a magistrate judge for the Norfolk U.S. District Court ruled last week. An amendment to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(4) extends work-product protection to drafts of expert reports and disclosures and to attorney-expert communications, both [...]

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Reaching far beyond his classroom walls at the Appalachian School of Law – and tapping some obvious broadcasting skills – law Prof. Stewart Harris hopes to bring the U.S. Constitution to life each week on his own radio show. “Your Weekly Constitutional” airs each Tuesday at 8 p.m. on public station WETS out of East [...]

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A lot of college grads have decided it’s not the right time to go to law school. Law school applications are off 11.5-percent from last year, down to the lowest level since 2001, according to figures from the Law School Admission Council Inc. “Certain debt and uncertain job prospects” explains the trend, according to The [...]

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The General Assembly has moved to increase the threshold for medical malpractice payments that trigger an automatic physician competency assessment. The legislation also would exempt doctors who no longer have an active practice. A Virginia statute requires regulators to investigate doctors for three medical malpractice payments in a 10-year period. House Bill 2229 will increase [...]

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‘“The Battle over Immigration” is the topic of the Annual Emanuel Emroch Lecture at the University of Richmond law school next week. The lecture, presented as a panel discussion by the Richmond Journal of Global Law and Business, will cover the immigration debate and its impact on state and federal legislation and litigation. The event [...]

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Politico is reporting that Virginia’s congressional delegation has reached a redistricting deal that likely will ensure eight of the state’s 11 seats will remain Republican for the next decade. You might ask how they can do that when the General Assembly has the final say on redistricting, but the article suggests that state legislators are [...]

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The University of Richmond law school was among the big winners in the annual ranking of law schools by U.S. News & World Report. It jumped 19 spots to 67th, which still left it trailing four other law schools in the state – the University of Virginia, which moved up a spot to tie for [...]

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