The VLW Blog

On the heels of the Senate courts committee’s judicial interviews last Friday, both legislative courts committees have certified incumbent judges for possible re-election by the General Assembly this week. Supreme Court Justice Donald W. Lemons has been certified for another 12-year term on the high court, and Fauquier prosecutor James P. Fisher has been approved [...]

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Candidates for the seat of retiring Court of Appeals Judge James Haley Jr.  face a round of interviews.  Not only will they sit down with representatives of the Virginia State Bar on Feb. 16, they also are invited to meet with several special interest bar groups. The Old Dominion Bar Association is making it easy [...]

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Lakshmi Challa, who heads her own four-office immigration law firm, was honored today by the Richmond Bar Association with the John C. Kenny Pro Bono Award for 2012. Each year, the RBA honors an individual, law firm or organization that demonstrates dedication to the delivery of pro bono services in the Richmond metropolitan area. Working [...]

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If you are an employer who provides pet privileges at your workplace, be careful how you involve your employees with your animals. Creating some distance between a pet and an employee can help protect an employer from a workers’ comp claim for a workplace injury linked to any animals in residence. There was conflicting testimony [...]

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Culpeper Circuit Judge John G. “Jack” Berry is giving up his robe to return to private practice. Berry, who has served on the 16th Circuit bench since 2008, is stepping down to run the Charlottesville office of Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen, Virginia’s largest personal injury law firm. Berry will join the firm on Feb. [...]

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A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wasted little time in rejecting a bid by Texas Gov. Rick Perry to get on the Virginia GOP primary ballot. Perry appealed Sunday from a district judge’s refusal to add his name to the ballot. The appeals court responded Tuesday with a 23-page order, [...]

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The Virginia State Bar is gearing up to evaluate candidates for the expected vacancy on the Court of Appeals of Virginia created by the retirement of Judge James Haley Jr. Haley announced last month he will retire March 1, a few months ahead of his 70th birthday. The timing of the retirement allows the General [...]

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Virginia lawmakers are proposing to study trial judges’ caseloads and the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals. House Bill 745 would give the Supreme Court until October of next year to perform a “weighted caseload” study of judicial work and recommend any changes in the maps of circuits and districts. The bill was offered by [...]

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Del. Ben Cline has introduced a bill to abolish any inherent authority of Virginia judges to defer and dismiss criminal cases if the facts justify a finding of guilt. House Bill 750 would undermine the holding of the Supreme Court of Virginia in Hernandez v. Commonwealth where the court declared that judges have the inherent [...]

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A lawyer who allowed grieving family members to forge a dying woman’s signature on estate planning documents has had his law license suspended for two and a half years by the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board. The decision comes seven months after John M. Coppola was disbarred in Maryland for the same offenses. Coppola, a [...]

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