The VLW Blog

Two days, two new federal judges in Virginia. The U.S. Senate followed up its confirmation of Arenda L. Wright Allen yesterday for a seat in the Eastern District by confirming Magistrate Judge Michael F. Urbanksi this afternoon for a position in the Western District. The votes for both candidates were unanimous. President Barack Obama followed [...]

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An Essex County supervisor’s explanation about drinking chocolate eggnog after a single car accident was enough to get a drunken driving charge dismissed, but not without some skepticism from the judge. Jack Stevens was on his way home from church (!) on Hustle Road (!!) Jan. 2 when he slammed his car into a tree, [...]

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The U.S. Senate confirmed this afternoon the nomination of Arenda L. Wright Allen for a U.S. district judgeship in Norfolk. Allen has been an assistant federal defender in Norfolk since December 2005 and has headed the office for the past five years. Before joining the defender’s office, she worked for 14 years as an assistant [...]

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The unraveling of Patricia Kluge’s country squire lifestyle has spawned a court decision sure to catch the breath of any lawyer – a default judgment totaling nearly $24 million. Bank of America sued In January claiming Kluge was in default on three separate loans. Kluge never responded to the lawsuit in Charlottesville federal court. Now, [...]

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The law office of B. Cullen Gibson in Norfolk has won the Attorney General’s Cup for raising the most food per person in the fifth annual Legal Food Frenzy. The frenzy raised more than 1.6 million pounds of food for the state’s food banks in a competition among 177 Virginia law firms and legal departments [...]

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The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has released the names of the panel set to hear oral arguments this morning in two Virginia cases that ruled on constitutional challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The judges are: Diana Gribbon Motz, Andre M. Davis and James A. Wynn Jr. Davis and Wynn [...]

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A Newport News criminal defense attorney put his language arts skills to work in seeking relief from a court date in conflict with his planned honeymoon. Chad Dorsk was appointed to a heroin distribution case in federal court after another attorney withdrew, according to a crime news compilation from the Daily Press. He agreed to [...]

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Troutman Sanders LLP has appointed John S. West as managing partner of its Richmond office. West, 45, is deputy group leader of the firm’s white collar and government investigations practice. He succeeds Thomas E. duB. “Ted” Fauls, who has led the Richmond office since March 2006. He represents individuals and corporations in all phases of [...]

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John A. Gibney Jr. has been sworn in as a U.S. District Court judge by Senior Virginia Supreme Court Justice Harry L. Carrico, for whom Gibney clerked in 1976. Also present in the large seventh floor courtroom in the federal courthouse on May 6 in Richmond was former Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, for whom Gibney [...]

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The federal government’s top appellate lawyer, Acting Solicitor General Neal K. Katyal, will defend the constitutionality of the federal health care law in two cases before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. His adversaries will be Mathew D. Staver, dean of the Liberty University law school, and Virginia Solicitor General E. Duncan [...]

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