The VLW Blog

Sharon Nelson of Sensei Enterprises Inc., the Fairfax-based computer forensics firm, and her husband/business partner John Simek were in Grundy recently to deliver a talk at the Appalachian School of Law.
Sharon and John went to talk about marketing one’s self online, including a number of warnings about employers using Facebook to check on applicants. The […]

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All trade has gone global nowadays, we hear, but one business wasn’t global enough to gain protection under U.S. laws against cybersquatting, in a new decision in Alexandria federal court.
“Tober and Skeat” sounds like a couple of barristers. But in fact, they are a married couple who in 2001 founded “Agency Provocateur,” an introduction and […]

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As we noted in the Daily Alert today, U.S. District Judge James P. Jones took away Buchanan County’s “Big Coon Dog” jury verdict.  The opinion is available at the Western District’s Web site.
The county, whose elected officials took bribes to hand out flood clean up work, was attempting to recover its alleged overpayments to contractors.  […]

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The Web site for the House of Representatives has been overwhelmed this week by a deluge of visitors trying to e-mail their representatives and download the financial bailout bill that was defeated Monday, according to CNET.
Yes, Washington, you have our attention.
By Peter Vieth

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A former Giles County Circuit Court clerk is on trial in Roanoke accused of running a Ponzi scheme to defraud investors of millions of dollars.  As reported by The Roanoke Times, however, his attorney claims Ted James Johnson Jr. was more like a victim of the nation’s financial confusion.
Johnson’s attorney Tony Anderson described some of […]

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Jury consultants are urging trial lawyers to use tools available on the Internet to do their juror research.
A note of thanks to our colleagues at The Daily Record, who posted a piece in the Los Angeles Times. The L.A. reporter had to go all the way to Charlottesville for one of his sources, Dr. Jeffrey Frederick […]

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Charles H. Whitebread, the former University of Virginia law professor who maintained his ties to the state through bar review courses and lectures long after he moved to the University of Southern California law school, has died. He was 65.
Mr. Whitebread had a national reputation as an expert in criminal law, the U.S. Supreme Court and […]

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The Senate has confirmed Alexandria attorney Anthony Trenga’s nomination to a federal judgeship in the Eastern District of Virginia, reports the Associated Press.
Trenga was one of five lawyers Senators Jim Webb and John Warner recommended for the federal bench in a letter to President Bush  in June 2007. In a joint statement Friday, Warner and […]

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Sometimes state agents and federal revenooers bust up stills making illegal moonshine. Sometimes, vice squads raid crack parlors, brothels and other houses of ill repute.
In Kentucky, they’ve gone to court to crack down on illegal online gambling.
Yep, the commonwealth of Kentucky now owns the domain names of numerous illegal gambling sites (141 to be exact), […]

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The FBI has released a cryptic statement indicating that the agency has a lead on a vehicle possibly connected to the five-year-old Short family murder case in Henry County.  WSLS reports that the FBI is not adding much in the way of explanation.
Last month, Henry County officials announced a reward of $67,000 for information about […]

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