Weekly Edition
Ex-lawyer Conrad pleads guilty to fraud
By News in Brief
August 25, 2008
ALEXANDRIA—A disbarred Woodbridge attorney has pleaded guilty to a federal fraud count related to what prosecutors say was the theft of more than $3.5 million from his clients.
Stephen T. Conrad, 40, worked on personal injury and workers’ compensation cases. Court documents say until last December he forged his clients’ signatures and misappropriated funds coming from […]
New Kent judge rejects assessments attack tactic
By News in Brief
August 25, 2008
A second Virginia circuit judge has rejected an effort by property owners upset with their assessments to use a little-known Virginia law to draft their commonwealth’s attorneys to press their case.
Property owners had filed petitions with commonwealth’s attorney C. Linwood Gregory in New Kent County and Gary A. Agar in Accomack County under Code § […]
VLF seeks nominations for Fellows class of 2009
By News in Brief
August 25, 2008
The Virginia Law Foundation will accept nominations to the 2009 Class of Fellows through Sept. 8.
The 2009 class will be inducted at a dinner meeting at the Williamsburg Lodge & Convention Center during the Virginia Bar Association’s Annual Meeting in January.
Candidates must be an active or associate member of the Virginia State Bar for at […]
VSB Disciplinary Actions
By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
August 25, 2008
On Aug. 6, the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board revoked the law license of Gerard R. Marks of Christiansburg. According to the VSB, Marks admitted that he accepted client money without performing the work for which he was hired, that he issued a purported settlement check to a client when no settlement had occurred, […]
When clients attack
By Peter Vieth
August 18, 2008
It’s a tense situation confronted by every criminal defense lawyer. The client is not the most stable individual in the community.
He or she may have been charged with shocking acts of violence. There may be a life sentence, or worse, hanging over the head of the accused.
Yet the lawyer must enter a small room, […]
Former prosecution may have prompted attack
By Peter Vieth
August 18, 2008
A Richmond criminal defense lawyer is lucky to have survived a particularly vicious client attack. “I could have bitten the bullet,” said Charles Cosby, recalling the incident at the Powhatan Correctional Center some 20 years ago.
Cosby was appointed to represent an inmate accused of taking a staffer hostage during a prison uprising. Because of security […]
Noncompete lawsuit can go forward
By Peter Vieth
August 18, 2008
An insurance company is the hands-down winner in a preliminary challenge to its noncompete agreement with a regional manager, as a federal judge turned away every defense offered by the former manager.
The Aug. 11 opinion by U.S. District Judge Glen E. Conrad of Roanoke stands in contrast to a spate of recent Virginia state cases […]
Richmond’s new federal courthouse opens next month
By Alan Cooper
August 18, 2008
Proponents of downtown Richmond development had hoped that the new federal courthouse on East Broad Street would be, as one put it, “a world-class architectural statement.”
The building, which fills the block between Seventh and Eighth streets, might not meet that standard, but few could dispute that it fulfills the goal the General Services Administration set: […]
Arbitration clause catches nonsignatories
By Alan Cooper
August 18, 2008
A government contractor and its corporate officers can force arbitration of claims under a government subcontract, even though some of the corporate defendants did not sign the contract.
Fairfax Circuit Judge Randy I. Bellows said the defendants who did not sign the subcontract nevertheless can invoke its broadly worded arbitration clause to compel arbitration of the […]
First writ of actual innocence granted by Court of Appeals
By The Associated Press
August 18, 2008
(AP) A man convicted of felony firearm possession last week became the first person exonerated under a 2004 Virginia law that allows prisoners to present new, non-DNA evidence of their innocence.
More than 120 other inmates’ petitions had been rejected before the Virginia Court of Appeals granted Darrell Andrew Copeland’s writ of actual innocence.
The […]
NEWS FROM VIRGINIA LAWYERS WEEKLY
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- Nine seek a seat on Appeals Court
- Customer wins $1M in suit against Web developer
- I, the Juror: A very, very short tour of (jury) duty
- Dueling Web sites: Surnames the same, domain names… only an “L” apart
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