The VLW Blog

Thanks to politics and posturing in the General Assembly, three judgeships in Hampton were left unfilled when the legislature last left Richmond, leaving the locals to clean up the mess.
Lawyers and judges in Hampton have been muddling through, but they wonder when politics will take a vacation – it’s been four long years since things […]

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Pleading guilty to reckless driving and refusing a breath test, J&D Judge Michael Blankenship of Wytheville will not face a charge of driving under the influence. But Blankenship still has a hit-and-run charge from a separate incident, and he has been suspended from the bench by the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission. The Bristol Herald […]

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Fairfax Circuit Judge David Stitt died Saturday after suffering a heart attack while on vacation in North Carolina. Even if you’re a Fairfax lawyer and familiar with his Texas drawl and direct manner, The Washington Post obituary has information about him that you probably didn’t know.

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State police have charged J&D Court Judge Keith Blankenship with hit-and-run after an accident last month in Powhatan County, according to the Wytheville Enterprise. Blankenship is already facing DUI and refusal charges from a traffic stop on March 1. Blankenship, a former Wythe County Commonwealth’s Attorney, sits on the J&D court bench in […]

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Roanoke Circuit Judge Swanson noted today that Chris Clemens was appointed to the district court bench by a “majority” of the circuit court judges. The Roanoke Times has more on the impact of the decision on Clemens’ law office and his role as member of the Salem City Council. Having given up his […]

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The General Assembly earlier this week elected judges for many of the open seats across the commonwealth. One of the positions that remained vacant after Wednesday was a general district judgeship in Roanoke County. Judge Julian Raney retired at the end of December.
Local legislators were deadlocked between Roanoke Commonwealth’s Attorney Donald Caldwell and Salem […]

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Judy Rosenblatt wanted her colleagues on the executive committee of the Virginia State Bar to send a letter to General Assembly members stating the committee’s displeasure at the failure of the legislature to fill judicial vacancies.
Almost 30 appointments are pending, but Rosenblatt was most upset yesterday about Court of Appeals Judges Robert J. Humphreys and […]

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Virginia Court of Appeals Judge Robert J. Humphreys apparently will be off the bench – at least temporarily – because of an impasse in the General Assembly over the appointment of judges.
The legislature had an opportunity to fill more than two dozen vacancies when it met last night to complete work on the 2008-10 state […]

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Powhatan County District Judge Paul W. Cella reportedly is hospitalized with multiple injuries following a motorcycle accident yesterday. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Cella’s BMW motorcycle collided with an automobile on U.S. Route 360 near Central Garage. A state trooper told the paper that the driver of the auto pulled into Cella’s path. The auto’s […]

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Wythe County Juvenile & Domestic Relations Judge Michael K. Blankenship was charged with drunken driving on Saturday, reports the Roanoke Times.
Blankenship was stopped in Smyth County after police were told to be on the lookout for a Subaru driving erratically on Interstate 81.

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