The VLW Blog

Effective April Fool’s Day, lawyers can start electronic filing of documents in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Richmond-based appellate court has served notice of its proposed adoption of Administrative Order 08-01 for a case management/electronic filing system. ECF systems already are in place in federal district and bankruptcy courts in Virginia.
The e-filing system […]

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Walter D. Kelley Jr. is thinking about leaving the federal district bench less than four years after he was appointed to the court.
At a hearing in a patent case last week in Norfolk, Kelley told the attorneys before him that he has been offered a partnership in the Washington office of Jones Day. The remarks […]

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Plaintiffs’ attorneys would be able to get the policy limits of a potential defendant without filing suit under House Bill 172, which cleared the House Courts of Justice Committee Friday on a 19-3 vote.
Steven W. Pearson, a lobbyist for the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, told the panel that the measure “will reduce unnecessary lawsuits” because […]

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Supreme Court Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn and Court of Appeals Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. won’t have a break in service after all.
Their appointments by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine would have expired tonight in the absence of action by the General Assembly, and they became the pawns in an assertion of institutional clout by Republicans […]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled today in an unpublished order that applications to register to vote in Norfolk were available for inspection once Social Security numbers are redacted from the applications.
Andrew A. Rivera, a Northern Virginia attorney who is a member of the Advancement Project, an organization that monitors voter registration, filed a Freedom […]

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The proposal to increase the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 75 appears to be dead for the year.
The Courts of Justice Committees in both houses approved an increase, although the House committee lowered it to 73 in HB 783. However, on Monday the full House rejected the final draft of the bill. […]

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David P. Baugh, the prominent Richmond criminal defense attorney, will become the capital defender for the central Virginia office of the Indigent Defense Commission on March 1.
Baugh will succeed John B. Boatwright III, who has been seriously ill for much of the last two years and transferred recently to commission’s central office as special capital […]

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The train has been on the track for 20 years, but five members of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee didn’t think that was enough of a reason to make sure it stays there.
The issue is the ability of the nonlawyer staff of the Division of Child Support Enforcement to start the process against parents […]

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The First and Second Amendments to the U.S. Constitution seldom are as juxtaposed as they were today before the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.
The debate was over Senate Bill 529, carried for the Freedom of Information Advisory Council by Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania. The bill was largely a response to the posting last year […]

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Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn and Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. of the Virginia Court of Appeals could be out of a job Saturday.
Nobody expects that to happen, but their appointments by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine expire Friday in the absence of action by the General Assembly.
Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, chairman of the House Courts […]

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