The VLW Blog

A Hampton Roads law firm violated ethics rules when it simultaneously represented two clients who were in adverse legal positions. A Norfolk U.S. District Court said it found no prejudice in the current case and would not disqualify the firm, but would refer the matter to the Virginia State Bar. Montagna Klein Camden LLP specializes [...]

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A former attorney who surrendered her law license after she admitted she stole as much as $450,000 from the firm of Marks & Harrison has been indicted on eight felony embezzlement charges. Kyle Cornelia Leftwich was charged last week by the Richmond Metropolitan Multijurisdictional Grand Jury, according to Assistant Chesterfield County Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert J. [...]

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A Newport News criminal defense attorney put his language arts skills to work in seeking relief from a court date in conflict with his planned honeymoon. Chad Dorsk was appointed to a heroin distribution case in federal court after another attorney withdrew, according to a crime news compilation from the Daily Press. He agreed to [...]

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A federal judge Monday denied bond for former Winchester Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul H. Thomson based on a charge of witness tampering and a positive drug screen. A DEA affidavit claims Thomson, 56, tried to manipulate statements by his alleged former cocaine supplier after the supplier was arrested and started working with police. A local police [...]

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It’s a Thanksgiving tradition for Monica Chernin. For the past three years, the Culpeper attorney has collected hundreds of pies to hand out to less-fortunate residents as part of the annual Thanksgiving Food Basket, reports the Culpeper Star-Exponent. This past Monday, Chernin filled her downtown law office with nearly 470 donated pies. Residents with vouchers [...]

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Albert M. Orgain IV, a shareholder in the Richmond office of Sands Anderson, will be among the 2010 class of inductees into the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society’s Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame. According to the VAHS website, the program honors Virginians “who have made significant and lasting contributions to aviation while preserving their stories for [...]

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A Roanoke bankruptcy lawyer whose practice collapsed amid a flurry of criminal charges and domestic strife was convicted today of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.  The plea agreement for Ann Marie Miller also included a no contest plea to misdemeanor assault. Assuming no further troubles with the law, Miller will serve no additional jail time and the [...]

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A judge has appointed a receiver to take control of the bankruptcy practice of Roanoke lawyer Ann Marie Miller. Miller’s practice has been curtailed since September 18, when the Virginia State Bar obtained a temporary injunction that froze the bank accounts of Miller’s practice and ordered production of her bank records for inspection by the [...]

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Updating an April 30 blog entry, the Virginia Court of Appeals today granted rehearing en banc in Scialdone v. Commonwealth. In its April 29 split panel decision, the appellate court reversed summary contempt, including jail terms, for two Virginia Beach lawyers and their law clerk. The lawyers, Claude Scialdone and Barry Taylor, were defending their [...]

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A former bankruptcy attorney was sentenced yesterday to a year and a day in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Leslie W. Lickstein, 54, of Fairfax, was accused of preparing a false settlement statement in the sale of a property in Great Falls in July 2002. As a result, Lehman Brothers Bank made a [...]

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