Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Some out-of-state lawyers hoping to practice in Virginia without taking the bar exam may find doors opening beginning in December. The Supreme Court of Virginia has unveiled a new set of rule changes for waived-in lawyers, removing a longstanding hurdle ...

Tagged with: Supreme Court of Virginia News

A private school’s enrollment contract requiring parents to pay the school’s fees and costs in any litigation, regardless of which side prevails, is unenforceable, a Fairfax circuit judge held in a declaratory judgment action brought by a parent. Judge David ...

Tagged with: Contract Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard

Less than two months after a Fairfax circuit judge considered whether “legal fiction” plea deals were acceptable under the law, a Norfolk federal judge turned thumbs down on a plea agreement because the recited facts did not support the crime ...

Tagged with: Judge Robert G. Doumar U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Virginia law firm that advised its client to take notes about his conversations with co-workers at Duke University Health System and share those notes with his legal team did not violate ethical rules against communicating directly with an opposing ...

Tagged with: Judge Catherine C. Eagles

A mobile home park may have violated the Fair Housing Act by requiring residents to provide proof of their legal residency in the United States, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. Four Latino families allege that the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Barbara Milano Keenan Judge Henry F. Floyd Judge James A. Wynn Jr. Judge T.S. Ellis III

After nearly a 10-year hiatus, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recently issued three formal opinion letters, setting forth its views on various wage-and-hour issues addressed to the WHD by interested parties. Opinion letters represent official WHD ...

Tagged with: Employment U.S. Department of Labor

Citing “judicial immunity,” the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the dismissal of a multimillion-dollar civil rights lawsuit against a Maryland circuit court judge who ordered a deputy sheriff to use electrical shock to quiet a criminal defendant. ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Dennis W. Shedd Judge James A. Wynn Jr. Judge Roger L. Gregory

The Supreme Court of Virginia has advanced another set of rule changes that address gray areas of the appeal process. This time, the court has posted the rules for comment with an Oct. 25 deadline. The proposed revisions address the ...

Tagged with: Supreme Court of Virginia News

Lawyers must refrain from paying themselves from trust account funds when there is a good faith dispute about someone else’s interest in the money, the Supreme Court of Virginia has ruled. The court has affirmed a public reprimand for a ...

Tagged with: Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Supreme Court of Virginia News

The Court of Appeals of Virginia says evidence of involuntary intoxication cannot be used as a “back-door way” to prove a defendant’s mental state outside of a formal insanity defense. A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals refused to ...

Tagged with: Virginia Court of Appeals