Weekly Edition

Lawyers in the News

W. Edward Riley IV and Mitchell M. Wells have formed the law firm of Riley & Wells. They will practice in the areas of criminal and traffic defense as well as personal injury. The firm is located at 2201 Libbie Ave. in Richmond.

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Patricia S. Gill of Hunton & Williams LLP has been promoted to counsel status. A member of the firm’s labor and employment practice, she represents the law firm’s clients in all aspects of labor and employment law, with a focus on whistleblower and discrimination litigation and counseling on complex employee relations issues. Gill joined Hunton & Williams in Dallas in 2001 during its merger with Worsham Forsythe Wooldridge and relocated to the firm’s Richmond office last year. She received both her undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Virginia.

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Thomas J. Bondurant Jr., assistant United States attorney for the Western District of Virginia, has become a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Bondurant received his undergraduate degree from Emory & Henry College and his law degree from the University of Richmond law school. He has served in his position since 1979 and is currently the chief of the criminal division. He previously served as the senior litigation counsel and the lead prosecutor for the organized crime drug enforcement task force.

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Carter R. Brothers was recently promoted to senior attorney in the Roanoke office of Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC. His primary areas of practice are estate planning and administration, taxation, bond finance, and corporate law. He received his undergraduate degree in 1990 from Williams College, his law degree in 1997 from Vanderbilt University and his LL.M. in Taxation in 1998 from the University of Florida.

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Jeffrey L. Stredler has joined AMERIGROUP Corporation in Virginia Beach as senior vice president, senior litigation counsel. Prior to joining AMERIGROUP, he was a partner at the law firm of Williams Mullen. Stredler received both his undergraduate degree and his law degree from the University of Virginia.

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Intellectual property attorney René Vazquez has joined the McLean office of Williams Mullen as partner. He focuses his practice on U.S. and foreign patent prosecution, validity opinions, PCT applications, client counseling and infringement opinions. He also represents clients on a broad spectrum of technological fields.
Vazquez was previously employed as a senior technical associate at Rockwell International Science Center, was also a founding partner at a Herndon-based law firm. He is co-inventor of a patented system for achieving polarization-independent energy exchange between optical beams.

Vazquez received his law degree from Whittier College in 1995 and his undergraduate from Millsaps College in 1986. He also attended the U.S. Air Force Academy from 1982 to 1983.

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Neil L. Rose of Willcox & Savage is now serving as chair of the elder law section of the Virginia Bar Association. Rose has been an active member of the organization for many years.

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James E. Cornwell Jr., managing shareholder of the Blacksburg office of Sands Anderson Marks & Miller, has passed the Bar examinations and received his Practising Certificate as a solicitor in the courts of England and Wales.
Cornwell has become the newest member of the firm’s international business team, in addition to his membership in the local government practice group in Blacksburg. Other members of the Sands Anderson international team are: Michael P. Kuhn and Daniel M. Siegel in Richmond, and J. Jonathan Schraub in McLean.

Cornwell’s Virginia law practice focuses in local government law, economic planning and development, environmental law as well as zoning and land use issues. He currently serves as city attorney for the City of Galax; county attorney for the counties of Carroll, Floyd, Halifax and Lancaster; and town attorney for Narrows; he also serves as counsel to several water, sewer and solid waste authorities.

Cornwell earned his undergraduate degree from Campbell University and his law degree from the College of William & Mary.

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Dennis Belcher, a partner in the Richmond and McLean offices of McGuireWoods LLP, has been elected president-elect of the American College of Trust and Estates Counsel.

Belcher practices in the areas of estate planning, business planning, estate and trust administration, and fiduciary litigation. He previously served as the secretary of ACTEC, and is the past chair of the real property, trust and estate law section of the American Bar Association.

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Michael Ritchie, an attorney at the Ritchie Law Firm, has been elected secretary of the Rockingham County Board of Elections. Ritchie specializes in representing individuals who have been injured by pharmaceutical drugs, dangerous products, tractor trailer collisions, dog attacks, automobile collisions and other instances of negligence. He also represents injured and disabled clients with workers’ compensation and Social Security disability claims. Ritchie currently serves on the board of governors of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and is chairman of the Young Trial Lawyers Section of VTLA.

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