The VLW Blog

A Norfolk federal jury has delivered a $30 million verdict in an advertising patent suit. The plaintiff – a small tech company holding a patent for online marketing techniques – had hoped for a bigger recovery in its suit against Internet giants including Google, but the verdict holds promise of far more in future damages. [...]

[Read more →]

Federal Magistrate Judge F. Bradford Stillman of Norfolk will retire in September, he says. Stillman, 65, tells The Virginian-Pilot he plans to enjoy his family and his expected first grandchild. Stillman’s legal career was not so placid. As lead attorney for the company that won exclusive salvage rights to Titanic artifacts, Stillman was aboard a [...]

[Read more →]

A federal grand jury in Richmond indicted former state Del. Phillip A. Hamilton today on charges of bribery and extortion. Hamilton lost his seat in the House and on the powerful Appropriations Committee in 2009 after disclosures that he sought an appropriation of $500,000, reduced from an original request for $1 million, to establish a [...]

[Read more →]

Virginia’s U.S. Senators, Mark Warner and Jim Webb, this afternoon sent a letter to President Obama recommending Richmond lawyer John A. Gibney Jr. for a federal judgeship. The Associated Press reports that the senators cited Gibney’s more than 30 years of experience in making the endorsement. Gov. Tim Kaine, who practiced law in Richmond for [...]

[Read more →]

Acting U.S. Attorney Dana Boente of the Eastern District is dropping espionage charges against two Israeli lobbyists. As noted by the Associated Press, the case against Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of the American Israel Public Afffairs Committee sparked criticism of the prosecution and provided fuel for Washington intrique . Critics accused the federal government [...]

[Read more →]

The jam band Phish has asked a Virginia federal judge to block the sale of unlicensed merchandise. After a five-year hiatus from touring, the band kicks off their reunion tour this weekend at the Hampton Coliseum. They filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Newport News against defendants “John Does 1-to-100″ and “ABC Corporations [...]

[Read more →]

Alexandria U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris sentenced former CIA executive director Kyle Foggo to 37 months for corruption. Prosecutors said Foggo used that job to award lucrative contracts to a businessman and friend in San Diego in return for expensive vacations, meals at exclusive restaurants and the promise of job after his retirement from [...]

[Read more →]

Wait! There are more! Candidates for federal judgeships, that is. Michael R. Shebelskie, a partner in the litigation and intellectual practice in the Richmond office of Hunton & Williams, is interested in the district court seat inRichmond. Sharon Y. Eubanks, now senior counsel in the Washington office of Holland & Knight after 22 years as [...]

[Read more →]

Richmond federal judges have some observations about the new courthouse at Seventh and Broad streets on the Richmond Bar Association’s Web site. The judges think the new courtrooms are more lawyer and juror friendly, with better acoustics and technology. They encouraged attorneys to visit the courtrooms and familiarize themselves with that technology before trying to [...]

[Read more →]

Junior Johnson ran a software company called PurchasePro that was based in Las Vegas. In 2001, PurchasePro, a publicly traded company, filed a Form 10-Q with the Securities & Exchange Commission, reporting its financial results for the first quarter of that year. The feds thought that the documents were false and misleading and contained inflated [...]

[Read more →]