Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Fifty-two Roanoke-area lawyers have asked the Senate Judiciary Committee for more women candidates to be appointed to circuit and general district judgeships in their circuit. In a letter to the committee sent May 14, the group noted that only one ...

Tagged with: Gender diversity Judges Judicial nominations Roanoke County Virginia General Assembly

A federal jury awarded a Roanoke County couple $430,000 in an eminent domain case on May 14, the first such verdict among cases related to the Mountain Valley Pipeline project. The verdict was reached after a four-day trial in federal ...

Tagged with: Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon Mountain Valley Pipeline

A 2016 study supported by the American Bar Association confirmed elevated rates of “problematic alcohol use and symptoms of depression” among 13,000 participating practicing lawyers. Five years later, the non-medical condition of “burnout” is getting a similar look. The Institute ...

Tagged with: American Bar Association Burnout depression Institute for Well-Being in Law lawyer Wellness

Courts with approved plans to hold jury trials no longer need approval from the Supreme Court of Virginia to modify mask mandates instituted to control the spread of COVID-19. In a May 17 press release, the Supreme Court of Virginia ...

A federal judge’s ruling earlier this month that a nationwide eviction moratorium ordered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is unconstitutional has left unanswered questions for Virginia’s landlords and tenants. U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the ...

Tagged with: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Coronavirus COVID-19 eviction Landlord and tenant

In the wake of nationwide protests about racial injustice last summer, organizations across the country sought out ways to address the issue internally and externally. The legal field was no exception. The Law Firm Antiracism Alliance was founded last June ...

Tagged with: Law Firm Antiracism Alliance Racial Equity

The 2021 General Assembly session was a successful one for advocates of judicial reform, with several bills passing that affect elements of the justice system in Virginia. One notable effect of the latest round of legislation is an increase in ...

Tagged with: Attorneys General Assembly

The COVID-19 pandemic altered the working lives of nearly every worker in the United States. The legal field was no exception. Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons on March 16, 2020, declared a judicial emergency, effectively pausing nearly ...

Tagged with: Coronavirus COVID-19 Law Firms

A pair of national studies in 2016 put a light on an unsettling trend: Attorneys and law students faced higher-than-average rates of problem drinking, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. Born out of that finding was a 17-member task force that ...

Tagged with: Lawyer wellness Mental Health

If a messenger slips and falls on the sidewalk while delivering a business document to a person working at home, is the subsequent claim covered by the person’s homeowners insurance policy? With the COVID-19 pandemic causing more people to work ...

Tagged with: COVID-19 Employment Insurance Remote work