The VLW Blog

Fairfax Circuit Judge Gaylord L. Finch Jr. wasn’t included on the list of judges to be reelected by the General Assembly on Jan. 22.
The Northern Virginia delegation asked the House and Senate Courts committees to hold back certification, pending their review of his record. Domestic relations litigants and a group of parents who opposed [...]

[Read more →]

And the winner in the latest round between Chesterfield County Circuit Clerk Judy Worthington and Chesterfield Chief Judge Michael C. Allen is…
Allen.
This morning the Supreme Court of Virginia entered a terse one-page order denying Worthington’s requests for a writ of prohibition and a writ of mandamus against Allen and dismissing her petition.
The cause of a [...]

[Read more →]

Electing three new judges in Norfolk in the next session of the General Assembly apparently won’t be a repeat of the battle to fill three circuit court vacancies there that occurred this year.
Sources say the delegation has agreed on:
-         Mary Jane Hall, who is of counsel in the Norfolk office of Kaufman & Canoles, to [...]

[Read more →]

Things must be a little prickly in the Chesterfield County Courthouse.
Judy L. Worthington, clerk of circuit court, has filed a petition for a writ of prohibition and a writ of mandamus against Chief Judge Michael C. Allen over the designation of Aubrey M. Davis Jr., an attorney and former prosecutor in the county, as a [...]

[Read more →]

Judge Martin Clark’s newest novel, The Legal Limit, is drawing favorable reviews in the national press.
Clark, who has been on the bench for 15 years, currently serves as a circuit court judge in Patrick and Henry Counties and the City of Martinsville. In a provocative introduction to his tale of two brothers, Clark says the [...]

[Read more →]

You’ve briefed and argued your Virginia circuit court case. Weeks go by and the judge still has it under advisement. Your client wants to know what’s taking so long.
The remedy under the Virginia Code: tell it to the Chief.
That’s right. Under Virginia Code § 17.1-107, if Chief Justice Leroy Hassell, or his designee on the [...]

[Read more →]

Once again, when trial judges and lawyers convene, the talk turns to Benitez, the Virginia Supreme Court sanctions case. The venue this time? A panel of circuit court judges at the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association annual meeting on March 28, moderated by Arlington Circuit Court Judge Joanne Alper.
The subject is irresistibly personal.
“Sanctions motions are different [...]

[Read more →]

Norfolk Circuit Court Judge Charles E. Griffith has lost his bid for another eight-year term, reports The Virginian-Pilot. One House Republican leader acknowledged that Griffith, who served as commonwealth’s attorney before going on the bench, will not be reelected.

[Read more →]

The News & Advance reports this afternoon that the Lynchburg legislative delegation apparently has agreed upon a candidate for a pending circuit judgeship in the 24th Circuit: John Cook.
Cook would succeed Judge Sam Johnston of Campbell County, who is retiring June 1 after 30 years on the bench.
Cook, 50, is a partner with [...]

[Read more →]