Weekly Edition :: Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Field Judge

By Peter Vieth
September 29, 2008

Once a week during football season, Circuit Judge William D. Broadhurst trades his black robe for zebra stripes to work as a referee for college football games. The jurist who sits on the bench in Roanoke on weekdays can be found Saturday afternoons on his feet on a gridiron with a whistle in his hand.
It’s […]

Comp lien recovery try prompts suit

By Alan Cooper
September 29, 2008

Virginia insurance law generally gives a workers’ compensation carrier a lien on the proceeds from a personal injury lawsuit against a third party.
There is a major exception to that general rule, however. No lien is available on a recovery under uninsured motorist provisions.
Frustration by Travelers Casualty & Surety Co. over the exception has led the […]

Bar discipline would be more costly

By Alan Cooper
September 29, 2008

MILLWOOD—The Virginia State Bar’s Executive Committee wants to hike the administrative fee assessed against lawyers who are disciplined by the bar.
Meeting at the Carter Hall Conference Center Sept. 18-19, the committee voted to recommend that the VSB Council increase the administrative fee for those found to have engaged in ethical misconduct.
For district subcommittee proceedings, […]

SOX whistleblower case argued in 4th Circuit

By Deborah Elkins
September 29, 2008

Once again, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is looking at what kind of a report of corporate “fraud” is protected under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Just weeks after handing down its SOX whistleblower decision in Welch v. Chao, a panel heard argument Sept. 22 in another closely watched case, Platone v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor, […]

Podiatrist can’t testify on issue of causation

By Peter Vieth
September 29, 2008

A disabled railroad worker’s lawsuit was dismissed last week because a judge found that, under Virginia law, his podiatrists could not testify that his foot condition was caused by workplace conditions.
The opinion excluding the podiatrists’ testimony on causation comes from Roanoke Circuit Judge William D. Broadhurst. The case is Hollingsworth v. Norfolk Southern Ry. […]

The power of storytelling in word-of-mouth marketing

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
September 29, 2008

By Mark Powers and Shawn McNalis
“I guess you could say I was born an attorney,” the lawyer said. “Of course, it’s better to actually have a license.”
Everyone in the workshop laughed. It was a good opening line in an exercise designed to help lawyers incorporate storytelling into their word-of-mouth marketing. In an effort […]

Marketing: Replace ‘no comment’ with pithy quotes

By Nora Lockwood Tooher
September 29, 2008

Some law firms hire consultants for all or part of their media relations. But lawyers can generate a lot of favorable publicity on their own, just by following a few basic media relations rules, according to Larry Bodine, a legal marketing consultant in Chicago (www.larrybodine.com).
“I recommend lawyers do just what the PR people […]

Lawyers in the News

By Sarah Rodriguez
September 29, 2008

Douglas P. Rucker Jr., a shareholder in the law firm of Sands Anderson Marks & Miller, has been selected to join the board of directors for Needle’s Eye Ministries Inc. Rucker has served for years on the advisory board for the local Christian ministry. He is also a founding member of the Richmond Christian Leadership […]

Work on dam stopped after new cost estimates

By News in Brief
September 29, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE—Local officials have halted design work on a project to build a dam at Ragged Mountain Reservoir after learning that the estimated cost has nearly doubled.
The project was intended to supply drinking water to the Charlottesville area for the next 50 years. But an engineering firm raised the original $37 million cost estimate to […]

Port Authority to cut staff, reorganize