The VLW Blog

Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, took to the Senate floor today to warn about that proposal to freeze judicial appointments in order to balance the budget.
“This short-sighted part of the House budget could do serious damage to the judicial system of Virginia,” Edwards said. He urged budget conferees to “recognize how important it is to maintain [...]

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To hear Roanoke-area  circuit judges talking, the state’s moribund judicial performance evaluation program deserves another chance.
As we reported in December, some key legislators have indicated they would welcome revival of the JPE project, where anonymous comments about judges were assembled by a VCU unit and delivered by the Supreme Court of Virginia.
At a recent bench-bar [...]

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When disputes arise at depositions, as they often do, lawyers will threaten to get the judge on the line to decide who’s right and who’s wrong. A discussion at last week’s bench-bar conference in Roanoke made one thing clear - you better check who your judge is before you ask for telephonic jurisprudence.
Circuit Judge [...]

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Virginia’s two Democratic U.S. senators invoked the name of Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell today in urging their Senate colleagues to act on the nomination of Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara Keenan for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner noted that Keenan has been a trailblazer for women lawyers and [...]

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U.S. District Judge Glen M. Williams will retire next week after 34 years on the bench, according to the Associated Press .
Williams was appointed to the district court by President Gerald Ford in 1976. He took senior status in 1988, but has remained active as a judge in the Western District.
By Peter Vieth

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The Virginia Beach Bar Association’s Judicial Recommendations Panel met earlier this week to interview and evaluate candidates for two judgeships, one a circuit court seat, previously held by Judge A. Joseph Canada Jr., and the other a general district court position, previously held by Judge Virginia L. Cochran.
The results are in.
Three candidates were “highly recommended” [...]

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Supreme Court Justice Barbara Milano Keenan will keynote this year’s annual Bench-Bar Dinner in Celebration of Women and Minorities in the Legal Profession, put on by the Virginia State Bar Young Lawyers Conference.
The dinner will be held next Monday, Jan. 25, at the Bull & Bear Club in downtown Richmond.
The event will [...]

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We have at least three ideas about when judges should retire already in this year’s legislative hopper.
Del. Terry W. Kilgore, R-Gate City, proposes 73 in House Bill 126, as does Sen. John S. Edwards, D-Roanoke, in Senate Bill 206, apparently at the request of the Virginia Judicial Council, which suggested that age in its judicial [...]

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U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Friedman of Norfolk will take senior status Nov. 30, The Virginian-Pilot is reporting.
Friedman has been on the federal bench since 1997. He was a Virginia Beach circuit judge when President Clinton tapped him for the seat.
The judge told the Pilot that he had notified the White House and courts [...]

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Fifteenth Circuit Judge Horace A. Revercomb III has announced his retirement, effective March 1.
His chambers are in Bowling Green, and he typically sits in Caroline County.
Revercomb was elevated to the circuit court in 1999 after serving as a general district judge based in Caroline. He was reappointed to a second eight-year term in 2007.

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