Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Virginia’s public defenders are telling reform-minded Democrats the state needs more judges from the ranks of defense lawyers, more discretion for judges and fewer opportunities for pretextual police stops. Another target of reformers is mandatory minimum sentences for various offenses ...

Tagged with: Criminal

Faced with a deposition that was halted amid sharp objections to the scope of questioning, a Richmond federal judge ordered a second deposition and assessed fees against the opposing counsel. No sanctions were imposed, and the dispute over the questioning ...

Fairfax County prosecutors stopped being involved in many misdemeanor cases last month. The reason: The county’s newly implemented body-worn camera program for police officers. The body cams create a high volume of footage and an overwhelming caseload prevented prosecutors from ...

Tagged with: Criminal Steve Descano

A Richmond circuit judge says a group of Richmond landowners is likely to succeed on a claim that property law bars removal of the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Judge W. Reilly Marchant concluded that property owners in ...

Tagged with: Gov. Ralph Northam Judge W. Reilly Marchant Richmond Circuit Court

The Supreme Court of Virginia has rejected arguments that a Virginia State Bar penalty was based on no more than an embellished fee dispute, turning aside a lawyer’s objections to the bar discipline process. The result was affirmation of a ...

Tagged with: bar discipline Justice Teresa M. Chafin Supreme Court of Virginia

A Wise County circuit judge has held that a uranium company cannot mine a piece of property in Pittsylvania County. In 1982, the Virginia General Assembly placed a moratorium on uranium mining on safety grounds. The plaintiffs in the case ...

Tagged with: Judge Chad Dodson Wise County Circuit Court

The judges of the Virginia Court of Appeals went in three different directions in analyzing when a document – a signed proof of service – can take the place of live testimony to prove violation of a criminal statute. At ...

Tagged with: Criminal Law Judge Clifford L. Athey Jr. Judge David W. Lannetti Judge Glen A. Huff Judge Robert J. Humphreys Virginia Court of Appeals

A Newport News circuit judge says the opportunity to depose a risk manager is no substitute for having the official’s handwritten notes made a few days after a patient’s fall in a hospital. The decision by Judge Christopher R. Papile ...

Tagged with: Discovery Judge Christopher R. Papile Newport News Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

(AP) Virginia Democrats say they are looking to make transformational change to the state’s criminal justice system — just a few months after taking a far less ambitious approach. The killing of George Floyd and widespread protests over police violence ...

Tagged with: Criminal Law General Assembly

A former top executive with The Martin Agency in Richmond who claims he was unfairly maligned by an article in Adweek may have to sue in a court outside of Virginia. A judge says the advertising trade magazine lacks sufficient ...

Tagged with: Defamation Judge John A. Gibney Jr. Personal Injury U.S. District Court - Eastern District