The VLW Blog

Richmond lawyer Steven D. Benjamin has taken the helm of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Taking office Saturday as the 2012-13 president of NACDL at the group’s San Francisco meeting, Benjamin pledged to promote the use of scientific evidence on behalf of the accused. Benjamin said defense lawyers have learned to challenge the [...]

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A Norfolk criminal defense attorney was arrested days after he allegedly yelled accusations against his client’s co-defendant in a courtroom hallway. Herman C. Smith III is being held without bond in the Norfolk City Jail on a felony obstruction of justice charge, reports The Virginian-Pilot. The incident occurred on Tuesday after a preliminary hearing in [...]

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A former hotel valet parking attendant who struck and killed a pedestrian on a downtown Richmond sidewalk will spend a year in jail. Richmond Circuit Judge Bradley B. Cavedo sentenced Paul Gray Jr. to five years with four suspended for the involuntary manslaughter of 23-year-old Josephine Stone, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. The accident occurred as [...]

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And in more news from the department of “it’s tough all over,” compensation for corporate counsel also has dropped, according to a new survey released by AmLaw’s Corporate Counsel. Base pay has been relatively stable, the survey reports, dropping slightly to an average of $611,411 for GCs. But stock awards and bonuses are down. The [...]

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The EEOC can obtain five years’ worth of job assignment records from a company that deploys as many as 45,000 temporary workers on a weekly basis, in a case alleging the company illegally discriminated when it refused to reassign a temporary worker who could not read and write English. When the agency took up the [...]

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Fewer jobs at the largest law firms mean salary statistics for new lawyers continue their depressing trend. The average salary for 2011 law school graduates is 6.5 percent lower than that for the previous class, according to NALP – the Association for Legal Career Professionals. The figures for new private practice lawyers are more startling. [...]

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Displaced high school students who were barred from playing interscholastic sports at their new school get no relief from a federal appeals court. A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Virginia High School League which denied a waiver for the new students at Castlewood High School. The VHSL refused [...]

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The Virginia State Bar is considering using the Internet as well as the post office in elections for VSB offices. Under the VSB’s proposal, lawyers initially would choose whether to vote online or to receive and return a paper ballot. A membership task force concluded that online voting would save money and would likely increase [...]

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A lawyer accused of unfair debt collection is protected by the “bona fide error defense,” even though he persisted in seeking attorney fees under an invalid contract, a federal appeals court panel has ruled. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a court victory for an Alexandria lawyer who sought to collect for nursing [...]

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Gov. Bob McDonnell – who last month asked would-be circuit judges to apply to his office  for three open positions – is not saying just when he will decide on possible appointments. “The governor’s office is currently considering the applications of those who have put their names forward,” said McDonnell spokesman Jeff Caldwell Monday. “He [...]

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