The VLW Blog

A Maryland deputy who mistook his pistol for a Taser can be sued for shooting an unarmed, fleeing suspect, a federal appeals court held on Thursday. The full 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a jury could find that Deputy Sheriff Robert Purnell’s mistake was “objectively unreasonable” because he should have realized he had [...]

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Gary D. LeClair has stepped down as chief executive officer of LeClairRyan a year earlier than originally announced but will remain as the firm’s chairman. Last August, the firm described a two-year transition plan in which Chief Practice Officer  David C. Freinberg would succeed LeClair as CEO. LeClair said last week that the timetable was [...]

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A proposed reduction in the number of circuit judges for Arlington and Alexandria brought out Arlington bar leaders in force last night at a hearing on proposed realignment of the state’s judicial boundaries. Arlington had four circuit judges until earlier this year when Judge Benjamin N.A. Kendrick retired. Judge James F. Almand also has announced [...]

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When a new study suggested mountaintop removal coal mining might be responsible for an increase in West Virginia birth defects, it was no surprise to see a critical response from Crowell & Moring. After all, the Washington-based firm represents the National Mining Association. What came as a surprise, though, was one of the points included [...]

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Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert and an assistant came in for scathing criticism Tuesday as a Norfolk federal judge overturned the death sentence of a man convicted in a 2002 drug-related killing. U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson accused Ebert and assistant Richard Conway of “stifling” a search for truth by supporting the [...]

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With the Dalai Lama in town, Buddhists have taken to the streets of Washington, and one writer finds a surprising number of lawyers among their ranks. As the Washington Post feature writer discovered, Buddhist lawyers have their own Facebook page. There’s even a scholarly paper on Buddhists who practice law. Apparently, it’s not easy to [...]

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Disbarment orders can be a sad litany of lawyer oversights and defalcations, but one item stands out on an edict approving termination of a South Carolina attorney’s license. The attorney, it seems, tried to have an opposing lawyer killed. According to the S.C. Supreme Court order, Irby Walker sought to hire a hit man to [...]

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Ghostwriting lawyers, beware, warns another federal judge in an opinion released last month. Alexandria Senior U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris became suspicious when he compared Wilfredo Sejas’ pro se complaint to a similar challenge to a foreclosure Sejas filed against the same mortgage company in Prince William Circuit Court in 2009. And the plaintiff’s [...]

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A former account manager and bookkeeper at a Virginia Beach law firm pleaded guilty today in federal court in Norfolk to forging firm checks totaling $567,075. Diana L. Farmer-Forston, 54, of Virginia Beach, forged the signature of a principal of Bennett and Zydron PC on 210 checks between July 2007 and February 2011, according to [...]

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The committee studying the alignment of Virginia’s judicial circuits and districts unveiled two proposals last night in Abingdon at the first of six hearings across the state. One would create 27 circuits from the 31 existing circuits. The other would keep the current 31 circuits but create an overlay of 11 regions to manage the [...]

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