The VLW Blog

To mark the law firm’s 100th anniversary, each of Williams Mullen’s 297 lawyers pledged to donate 100 hours of time this year to public service or pro-bono work.

The firm was established in Richmond in 1909 by Lewis C. Williams and James Mullen, reports The Virginian-Pilot, but didn’t expand beyond the capital city until 1992. Today the firm has 650 employees in a dozen offices, including an office in London. A quarter of its employees are in Hampton Roads.

Despite the economy, Williams Mullen is holding steady. The firm reports 4.9 percent revenue growth in 2008, and while they’ve cut back on hiring summer interns and new associates, they have not had to resort to layoffs or salary cuts.

Former Fairfax County Circuit Judge Burch Millsap died on June 6 of lung disease. He was 85.

Born in Missouri, Judge Millsap served in the Army Air Forces during World War II as an airplane mechanic. He graduated from law school at American University in 1950.

Judge Millsap was appointed to the court in 1968 after 18 years as a lawyer in private practice in Northern Virginia.

The Washington Post reflects on his most notorious case: the trial of James L. Breeden in the “Roy Rogers” murders.

Stafford County lawyer Thomas M. “Mack” Moncure died on Saturday.

A native of Stafford, Mr. Moncure attended the College of William & Mary for both undergraduate and law school, according to his obituatry in The Free Lance-Star. During WWII, he served briefly in the Army Air Corps and later served as a U.S. Marine officer in the Fleet Marine Force Pacific. He was honorably discharged following the Korean War.

After his military service, Mr. Moncure practiced law for 58 years, serving as the commissioner of accounts for Stafford for 37 years.

He is survived by four children and nine grandchildren.

Forensic scientists may be more frequent visitors to Virginia courtrooms as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling yesterday that laboratory reports are testimonial evidence and therefore invoke the Confrontation Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The court split 5-4, with Justice Scalia, the author of Crawford v.Washington, the 2004 opinion that rewrote the concept of what prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys usually put in the category of hearsay testimony.

The opinion shifted the analysis from whether an out-of-court statement is reliable to whether it was “made under circumstances which would lead an objective witness reasonably to believe that the treatment would be available for use at a later trial.”

That’s the whole purpose of laboratory analysis, so Crawford clearly applies, Scalia concluded in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts.

It was not immediately clear whether Virginia’s method of keeping technicians at their benches – requiring the prosecution to submit the analysis seven days before trial to give the defense attorney an opportunity to subpoena them – will work as a substitute for an appearance by a technician.

The Washington Post reports that defense attorneys were citing the case in Fairfax courts by noon yesterday. That prompted a comment from Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush,  “You’re going to make me read Justice Scalia before lunch?” Roush said she would rule later, after reading the opinion.

Some of Scalia’s opinion strongly suggests that the technicians will have to appear in court. “[T]he Confrontation Clause imposes a burden on the prosecution to present its witnesses, not on the defendant to bring those adverse witnesses. Its value to the defendant is not replaced by a system in which the prosecution presents its evidence via ex parte affidavits and waits for the defendant to subpoena the affiants if he chooses.”

Scalia also cites the recent National Academy of Sciences report to suggest that such “neutral scientific testing” may not be so reliable that the rigor of cross examination won’t enhance its accuracy.

By Alan Cooper

Deep in today’s Washington Post story about the deadliest crash in Metro history is this nugget, flagged by On The Record, a blog of our sister paper in Maryland:

The first lawsuit against Metro as a result of the crash was filed yesterday, and more are expected. The parents of Davonne Flanagan, 15, of the District sued in federal court, charging “negligent operation” and “negligent maintenance” on the part of Metro and the train’s operator.

Imhotep Yakub and Dawn Flanagan are seeking $950,000 for Davonne’s fractured leg and his pain and suffering. They are represented by Lawrence Lapidus, of the D.C. office of Karp, Frosh, Lapidus, Wigodsky & Norwind. (The firm also has offices in Rockville and Alexandria.)

A search of the PACER system shows no other suits filed against WMATA this week in D.C. or Maryland’s federal courts, or in the Eastern District of Virginia as of June 23.

Virginia has 95 counties (as well as 39 cities). Here, with a nod of thanks and acknowledgement to the people at the Library of Virginia behind “The Hornbook of Virginia History,” are 10 counties that don’t exist anymore, with a little Virginia history thrown in.

1. Alexandria County. A portion of Fairfax County ceded to the federal government to be part of the District of Columbia, Alexandria County was returned to the commonwealth in 1846. Renamed Arlington County in 1920.

2. Charles River County. The 1634 General Assembly established eight original shires that became counties, including Charles River. Renamed York County in 1638.

3. Dunmore County. Formed in 1772, renamed Shenandoah County in 1778. The name change spanked Lord Dunmore, the last royal governor of Virginia before the American Revolution.

4. Elizabeth City County. Another of the original eight shires, became part of Hampton in 1952.

5. Fincastle County. Formed in 1772, chopped into Montgomery, Washington and Kentucky counties in 1776. Kentucky County in turn was cut into three counties that became part of the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1792.

6. Nansemond County. Merged with the City of Suffolk in 1974.

7. Norfolk County. Consolidated with the City of South Norfolk in 1963 to form the City of Chesapeake.

8. Princess Anne County. Merged with the City of Virginia Beach in 1963.

9. Warrosquyoake County. Yet another one of the original eight shires. Just three years after its formation, in 1637, it was renamed Isle of Wight County, which is much easier to pronounce, as long as you say “Wight” right.

10. Warwick County. Named Warwick River County as one of the original eight, became just Warwick in 1643, merged with Newport News in 1958.

Note: In case you’re wondering, four of the original eight shires from 1634, now counties, are still around: Accomack, Charles City, Henrico and James City.

- Paul Fletcher

Special education directors in Hampton and Newport News have little concern over a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing reimbursement for private special ed placements.

According to the Daily Press, the high court recently ruled that parents of special education students can be reimbursed for private school tuition and costs, even if their children never received special education services from a public school.

Educators and social workers in both districts are aggressive about the federal and state laws’ “child find” provisions and work with private schools and faculty and staff in their own districts, training them about signs of disabilities.

A Roanoke County jury tonight refused to convict a man charged with manslaughter and hit-and-run in the death of Roanoke lawyer Tom Farrell last year.

Neil Horn, lawyer for defendant Jeffery Young, argued the commonwealth failed to prove Young’s car was involved in the incident.  There was little evidence linking Young’s car to the scene of Farrell’s fatal injury, but a host of witnesses who saw Young behaving oddly before and after the incident.  The witnesses observed damage to Young’s car after the accident that was not seen beforehand.

The jury returned its verdict after nearly nine hours of deliberation, during which the defense moved for a mistrial because some jurors had inadvertently viewed information about a similar incident allegedly involving Young, according to The Roanoke Times.  The judge took the motion under advisement and allowed the jury to continue its deliberations.

By Peter Vieth

An 8-to-1 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court today held it was an unconstitutional intrusion for school officials to search a 13-year-old girl’s bra and underpants for a suspected prescription drug.  “[T]he content of the suspicion failed to match the degree of intrusion,” wrote retiring Justice David Souter for the majority.

By a 7-to-2 vote, however, the court ruled that individual school officials were immune from liability because the student’s right to be free from such an intrusive search had not been clearly established at the time.

The case is Safford Unified School District #1 v. Redding.

Richmond lawyer Pat Lacy, a frequent adviser to school systems in Virginia, said the decision provides some guidance on student searches.  Most Virginia school practice, however, already complies with the standards set by the court, Lacy said.

The holding that the “strip search” of the Arizona teen was unconstitutional was not surprising, Lacy said, because the suspected drugs were not inherently dangerous and school officials did not appear to have done a very thorough investigation before the search.

By Peter Vieth

The man accused in the hit-and-run death of Roanoke lawyer Tom Farrell will skip an insanity defense.

Jeffery Young’s defense lawyer, Neil Horn, rested his case today without presenting any scientific evidence of his client’s mental condition, although Young’s mother testified that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Horn contends the prosecution’s circumstantial evidence fails to show any criminal conduct by Young.

Farrell was fatally injured during an early morning run last year.  There were no witnesses and little physical evidence connecting Young’s car to the incident, but numerous witnesses testified as to Young’s strange behavior on the day of the incident.

By Peter Vieth