The VLW Blog

Virginia Beach lawyer Kevin Martingayle has narrowly won the vote for president-elect of the Virginia State Bar. Martingayle’s margin of victory over Raymond Benzinger of Fairfax was less than 2 percent, according to VSB figures. Virginia lawyers cast 3,072 ballots for Martingayle, compared to 2,955 for Benzinger, reported VSB executive director Karen Gould. The difference [...]

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The First Day in Practice Seminar for new lawyers in Virginia has been rescheduled for March 1. The seminar at the Greater Richmond Convention Center – originally scheduled for Oct. 29 – was postponed because of the effects of Hurricane Sandy. It will run from 8:15 am to 4:00 pm, according to the Virginia State [...]

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Vienna’s Dennis J. Quinn, a past president of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, will fill an unexpired Fairfax County vacancy on the Virginia State Bar council, VSB executive director Karen Gould announced Monday. Quinn was the only person who filed a candidate petition by the advertised Friday deadline, Gould said. With only the one [...]

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ROANOKE – Increasing money for both legal aid and for the judiciary are two key items on the Virginia Bar Association’s agenda for the 2013 General Assembly session. VBA president Hugh M. Fain said reforming Virginia’s actual innocence law also ranks high among the VBA’s legislative goals. Speaking to the Roanoke Bar Association Tuesday, Fain [...]

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A special election is scheduled for November to fill a recently vacated seat on the Virginia State Bar council from Fairfax County. Elizabeth Finberg has resigned from the council, according to VSB executive director Karen Gould. Finberg had been with the Vienna litigation firm of Cochran and Owen. She is now assistant general counsel for [...]

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The Virginia State Bar is considering using the Internet as well as the post office in elections for VSB offices. Under the VSB’s proposal, lawyers initially would choose whether to vote online or to receive and return a paper ballot. A membership task force concluded that online voting would save money and would likely increase [...]

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The Virginia State Bar has established a leadership award in the field of legal education. It will be named for its first recipient, Roanoke lawyer William R. Rakes. Rakes received the award April 22 at the 20th Anniversary Conclave on the Education of Lawyers in Virginia, held in Charlottesville. The event was financially assisted by [...]

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The number of lawyers in the General Assembly continues to decline, and the president of the Virginia State Bar is urging attorneys to help change the trend. Only14 of the 40 Senators and 25 out of 100 Delegates are lawyers, according to the Assembly’s clerks’ offices. Combining the numbers, about 28 percent of the state [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia has reversed a public admonition for a prosecutor who talked to a defendant without his lawyer. The defendant was involved in two separate cases and the high court said the disciplinary charge did not adequately inform the lawyer which matter was at issue. The Virginia State Bar charged Caroline County [...]

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A Newport News attorney has been suspended for three months after allegedly failing to keep in touch with his clients in a family financial dispute. The complaint against Richard S. Gordon arose from a 2008 case in Hampton in which two brothers hired Gordon to represent them against a third brother in a dispute over [...]

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