The VLW Blog

The Alexandria Bar Association adds its voice to the clamor over the legislative proposal to realign Virginia’s judicial districts and circuits with a two-page resolution adopted last week. Merging the circuits for Alexandria and Arlington County would cause an undue hardship, the resolution states. “[T]he residents of Alexandria and Arlington have unique and diverse needs [...]

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While everyone else talks about the Janis-Edwards plan for redrawing Virginia’s judicial districts and circuits, Ken Lammers of Wise got busy with a Sharpie and sketched out his own idea for grouping the courts. Lammers, who authors the CrimLaw blog, determined to have no more than five and no fewer than three political subdivisions per [...]

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Del. David Albo, R-Fairfax County, says the Virginia State Bar overstepped its mission in lobbying the legislature for more judicial spending. Albo, chairman of the House Courts of Justice Committee, views the plan by Gov. Bob McDonnell to use the VSB’s $5-million cash reserves for general spending as a rebuff to the VSB’s advocacy for [...]

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Gov. Bob McDonnell proposed two budget amendments today that will affect the judiciary’s budget. He suggests $1.7 million for what he described as “longstanding priority judicial vacancies” and an additional $5.4 million to the criminal fund to help pay the cost of representing indigent defendants. The amount allocated for judicial vacancies would cover the salary [...]

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Three lawyers and a district court judge have expressed interest in a circuit court seat in Accomack County. Last month, the Eastern Shore Bar Association endorsed longtime Accomack attorney W. Revell Lewis III, according to the Eastern Shore News. Accomack lawyers Thomas Northam and Thomas B. Dix Jr. have also expressed interest in the judgeship, [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia will set aside $432,000 to pay for judges to fill vacancies created by state budget cuts. Beginning July 1, state officials will provide this funding to Virginia’s 18 district and circuit court systems affected by a state-mandated hiring freeze, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The money will be used to to [...]

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NORFOLK – Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr. says he will not invoke his constitutional power to reassign judges to courts suffering under heavy caseloads. His declaration came earlier today during his State of the Judiciary address to Virginia circuit court judges gathered for the annual Judicial Conference. Hassell said Article VI, Section 4 of [...]

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Updated at 10 p.m., April 28, with a link to the hearing. Gibney’s segment begins 124 minutes and 50 seconds into the hearing. Richmond lawyer John A. Gibney spent less than 15 minutes before the Senate Judiciary Committee this afternoon in his quest for a federal judgeship in Richmond. Gibney appeared to benefit from the [...]

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The Roanoke Bar Association today voted to recommend U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Urbanski for the vacancy created when U.S. District Judge Norman Moon took senior status in February. Virginia’s two U.S. senators have requested recommendations from bar groups for the Moon vacancy in the Western District and for the seat to open up in the [...]

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A House committee has approved the election of Franklin County Circuit Judge William Alexander to a third eight-year term on the bench. Alexander came under scrutiny by the panel for his handling of a special grand jury that looked into management of the Franklin County sheriff’s department. He later acknowledged in writing that, if the matter [...]

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