If you search the Rules of Professional Conduct, you won’t find any references to the need to take care of yourself and your health. You won’t find any reference to the fact that law is a stressful profession and that ...
Read More »Editorial: Put an end to client-shaming
Election season is stupid season, here and elsewhere. Be glad it ended last month. Here’s a plea to politicians and political types as they get ready for the next inevitable cycle: When a political candidate is a lawyer, he or ...
Read More »Editorial: Pass the federal shield law bill
When Attorney General Jeff Sessions appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Nov. 14, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, had a direct question. Raskin asked Sessions, “As Attorney General, will you commit not to prosecute investigative journalists for maintaining the confidentiality ...
Read More »Pro bono reporting issue sparks VSB ‘crisis’ 
By Dean E. Lhospital The Virginia State Bar is having something of an existential crisis at the moment. In a diffuse and diverse organization of more than 40,000 sometimes argumentative professionals, it is not surprising that its members would hold ...
Tagged with: Virginia State Bar
Read More »Resilience: an often overlooked skill for success 
A recent study found lawyers have a rate of depression that is four times higher than that of the general population. The study also found lawyers have a rate of alcohol abuse that is three times higher than the general ...
Read More »The fundamentals of expert witness cross-examination 
“A lawyer can do anything with cross-examination if he is skillful enough not to impale his own cause upon it.” – John Henry Wigmore Professor Wigmore’s oft-quoted observation is a cautionary note on the hazards of heedless cross-examination. Without question, ...
Read More »4L: My experience as a first-year attorney
I should preface this article with the following disclaimer: I work at The Witmeyer Law Firm, owned by Carl J. Witmeyer II, my father. That being said, I believe that I have endured the same struggle that all first-year attorneys ...
Read More »Editorial: Keep Justice Roush on the high court
When the 2016 General Assembly convenes tomorrow in Richmond, its agenda will include the election of a justice to the Supreme Court of Virginia. When it tackles that task, the Assembly should elect Justice Jane Marum Roush to a full ...
Tagged with: General Assembly Justice Jane Marum Roush
Read More »Editorial: A missed opportunity
The Supreme Court of Virginia has sidestepped a chance to improve the quality of criminal justice in the commonwealth. Last month, the court declined to adopt the recommendations by a special committee the court appointed to study improvements to the ...
Read More »Editorial: Don’t fire Justice Roush
Last week’s front page reported that Gov. Terry McAuliffe had tapped Fairfax Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush to fill a seat on the Supreme Court of Virginia. The choice of Roush was widely applauded. She had become the go-to judge ...
Tagged with: Supreme Court of Virginia
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