The VLW Blog

Gov. Bob McDonnell has filled two vacant circuit court judgeships with candidates having experience in prosecutor’s offices. Halifax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Kimberley Slayton White was named to the 10th Circuit bench, while Tazewell County General District Judge Jack S. “Chip” Hurley Jr. was appointed in the 29 circuit. White and Hurley fill judgeships left vacant [...]

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A trial court turned the tables on a mother who claimed a father violated a protective order, and jailed the mother for lying to the court. The father foiled the mother’s attempt to have him punished by secretly videotaping his pickup of their child for visitation. The mother landed in jail for contempt after an [...]

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If a picture truly is worth a thousand words, the Court of Appeals of Virginia has saved some space in a new opinion. For what appears to be only the second time, the court printed a photograph of a weapon as a part of a published opinion to help readers understand distinctions about the weapon’s [...]

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An employer did not defame a nurse supervisor when it noted in her employment records that she had been terminated for misconduct related to her reports that she had been cursed at by someone she supervised on a healthcare call-in line. The nurse supervisor, Shirley Shaheen, appealed dismissal of her defamation claim to the 4th [...]

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A Hampton Roads law firm violated ethics rules when it simultaneously represented two clients who were in adverse legal positions. A Norfolk U.S. District Court said it found no prejudice in the current case and would not disqualify the firm, but would refer the matter to the Virginia State Bar. Montagna Klein Camden LLP specializes [...]

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A man convicted of murder-for-hire will get another chance to show his innocence, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said last week. An appellate panel ordered the Roanoke U.S. District Court to take another look at the gateway test for gaining an evidentiary hearing under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1995 decision in Schlup v. [...]

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Accused of assault, breaking bond by trespassing and a handful of traffic violations, an Abingdon lawyer came away from court with only a speeding conviction. Berry L. Conway faced charges over a series of incidents that occurred in June. He was arrested three times over the course two weeks, accused of being drunk in public, [...]

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Yvonne Cockram McGhee, the executive director of the Virginia Bar Association, has become president of the National Association of Bar Executives. McGhee assumed her new post Aug. 2 at NABE’s annual meeting in Chicago, which was held in conjunction with the American Bar Association’s annual meeting. She will serve a one-year term. She is the [...]

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Some criminal defendants who have property and means for paying for a lawyer are getting away with a dodge – they ask for, and get, a court-appointed lawyer paid on the public dime, according to a news report by A.J. Lagoe, an investigative reporter with Channel 8 in Richmond. Defendants fill out a form to [...]

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