The VLW Blog

Neil H. MacBride was formally sworn in today as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia by Senior U.S. District Judge Henry C. Morgan Jr., a judge for whom he clerked 17 years ago in Norfolk.
Another former boss, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, participated in the ceremony in the Alexandria federal courthouse.
MacBride was confirmed [...]

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The newly sworn U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia says he hopes to still handle a few cases, despite his administrative role as the top federal lawyer west of the Blue Ridge.
Meeting with reporters today, Tim Heaphy said he hopes his management responsibilities won’t keep him out of the courtroom entirely.  “To some [...]

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A Florida man is headed to federal prison for more than seven years for running a bait-and-switch operation that advertised power scooters for Medicare patients.  Instead of the jaunty power scooters they saw on television ads, the victims were stuck with bulky power wheelchairs, and the government was stuck with thousands more in costs.
When arrested [...]

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President Obama nominated Timothy Heaphy, a partner at McGuireWoods LLP, today to be the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia.
Heaphy graduated from the University of Virginia in 1986 and from its law school in 1991.He was a law clerk for Justice John A. Terry of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and [...]

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Law professor A. Benjamin Spencer will work on appeals at the U.S. Attorney’s office on a pro bono basis.
According to a press release from Washington & Lee, Prof. Spencer will be assigned to the district’s Appellate Unit, assisting the office with its caseload. The conditions of Spencer’s appointment permit him to take on a [...]

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By process of elimination, The Roanoke Times reports that Tim Heaphy may be the president’s choice for U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia.
Virginia’s two U.S. senators nominated three lawyers for the job; two of them report they’ve been notified they will not be selected this time.  That leaves Heaphy, a Richmond lawyer who [...]

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Former corporate lobbyist Neil MacBride is among the top contenders for the U.S. attorney post in the Eastern District.
The Washington Post reports that MacBride is up against at least six other candidates. They include: Dwight C. Holton, a 12-year federal prosecutor and the brother-in-law of Gov. Kaine, and three assistant U.S. attorneys in Alexandria: [...]

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Federal authorities have accused an inmate in a Virginia federal prison of identity theft, possibly for the purpose of filing false claims for benefits intended for Holocaust victims and their descendants.
According to an indictment, John Kenneth Leighnor Jr., 49, used his time at the Federal Correctional Institute in Petersburg to carry out an elaborate ongoing [...]

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John Brownlee, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, will step down in a month after seven years as the region’s top federal prosecutor. He confirmed today that he is considering a bid for the Republican nomination for Virginia Attorney General, but has not made any final determination.
Julie Dudley, now First Assistant [...]

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Although no one here in the Old Dominion got the ax, the U.S. Attorney firings story now has a local angle: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales yesterday appointed Chuck Rosenberg, the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, as his interim chief of staff, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Rosenberg, who has past experience in the [...]

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