Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Bulky and elusive electronic files proved troublesome for Virginia federal prosecutors in recent months, but judges have declined to impose the ultimate punishment for discovery lapses that mainly inconvenienced criminal defendants. Last minute disclosures of potential Brady material may be ...

ROANOKE — A “Bench and Bar Fund” in the federal courts of the Western District is designed to assist lawyers working on pro bono civil cases and to support court educational programs. The money will come from out-of-state lawyers. The program ...

Tagged with: Judge Michael F. Urbanski U.S. District Court - Western District

A lawyer who failed to repay a client’s pre-litigation loan as promised has agreed to a three-year suspension of his law license. George E. Marzloff, 68, of Stafford also mismanaged his trust account, according to bar charges. He consented to ...

Tagged with: Lawyer Discipline

An employee cannot break the law in order to collect evidence in support of a workplace discrimination lawsuit, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. Judge Diana Motz, writing for a unanimous panel, said that for an employee’s ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Discrimination Employment Law Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

A lawyer’s designation of experts who twice failed to show at trial brought a ruling that the designations violated Virginia’s good faith pleading statute. A Fairfax County judge awarded nearly $10,000 in attorney’s fees for the lawyer’s “blatant disregard” of ...

Tagged with: Attorneys Fees Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Penney S. Azacarte

The debate continues over Virginia trial judges’ power to delay and dismiss a criminal case when a defendant’s guilt is clear. Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring says courts have the inherent power to reduce or dismiss such a charge ...

Tagged with: Attorney General Mark Herring Virginia Court of Appeals News

A Virginia attorney representing a victim of human trafficking earned her client an $8 million judgment in Kansas earlier this year, which is believed to be the largest single-plaintiff human trafficking award in United States history. Collecting the award, however, ...

Virginia has joined five other states that officially discourage lawyers from participating in fixed-fee programs similar to that offered for a time by Avvo Legal Services. The Avvo fixed-fee program folded this summer, but other attorney-client matching models are on ...

Tagged with: Supreme Court of Virginia News

In a victory for local land use regulators, the Court of Appeals of Virginia said the state ABC Board overstepped its authority when it granted a farm winery license for a less-than-two-acre site in Clifton. The decision is likely to ...

Tagged with: Judge Mary Grace O'Brien Virginia Court of Appeals News

Two Virginia circuit judges have reached opposite conclusions on whether Virginia law offers a window for “small loan companies” to charge unlimited interest rates.” In what one lender’s attorneys called a decision of far-reaching importance, a Richmond judge in January ...

Tagged with: Judge David Bernhard Judge Theodore J. Markow