Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

Tag: business law

Legal Elite 2024: Business Law

E.G. Allen III
Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin
Richmond

Joseph B. Allen
Willcox Savage
Norfolk

Hannané Amanpour
McCandlish Lillard
Fairfax

Christopher Ambrosio
Woods Rogers
Norfolk

Joel Ankney
Ankney Law
Virginia Beach

James T. Bailey
Williams Mullen
Richmond

Eric E. Ballou
Kaufman & Canoles
Richmond

David M. Bastiaans
Wolcott Rivers Gates
Virginia Beach

Mark R. Baumgartner
Pender & Coward
Virginia Beach

Seth Berenzweig
Berenzweig Leonard
McLean

David F. Bernhardt
Florance Gordon Brown
Richmond

Joel Michael Birken
Rees Broome
Tysons

Gregory R. Bishop
Williams Mullen
Richmond

Jonathan T. Blank
McGuireWoods
Charlottesville

Rebecca C. Bowen
ThompsonMcMullan
Richmond

Jeff Breeser
Willcox Savage
Norfolk

Steven Brinker
Crenshaw, Ware & Martin
Norfolk

W. Ashley Burgess
Sands Anderson
Richmond

Benton Burroughs Jr.
Reed Smith
McLean

John David Carroll
Sands Anderson
Richmond

Beverley L. Crump
ThompsonMcMullan
Richmond

David M. Delpierre
Kaufman & Canoles
Norfolk

Dustin H. DeVore
Kaufman & Canoles
Williamsburg

Darrell Austin Drinkwater
M. Richard Epps
Virginia Beach

Tricia Dunlap
Dunlap Law
Richmond

S. Brian Farmer
Reed Smith
Richmond

Humes J. Franklin III
Wharton Aldhizer & Weaver
Staunton

Thomas R. Frantz
Williams Mullen
Virginia Beach

Ronald M. Gates
Wolcott Rivers Gates
Virginia Beach

Megan Martz Gilliland
Kaufman & Canoles
Richmond

Ann F. Gillooly
Gillooly Law
McLean

Jacob L. Glasser
Glasser and Glasser
Norfolk

Robert C. Goodman Jr.
Kaufman & Canoles
Virginia Beach

Philip H. Goodpasture
Williams Mullen
Richmond

Allen C. Goolsby
Hunton Andrews Kurth
Richmond

Michael C. Guanzon
Christian & Barton
Richmond

Richard S. Guy
Woods Rogers
Norfolk

John Owen Gwathmey
Troutman Pepper
Richmond

Steven M. Haas
Hunton Andrews Kurth
Richmond

Brian L. Hager
McGuireWoods
Richmond

Ryan A. Hanson
Kaleo Legal
Virginia Beach

Lisa J. Hedrick
Hirschler
Richmond

Stephen T. Heitz
Litten & Sipe
Harrisonburg

Michael J. Hertz
Woods Rogers
Roanoke

John C. Hodges
Dunton Simmons & Dunton
White Stone

Kathleen B. Horne
Sevila Saunders Huddleston & White
Leesburg

Eric F. Horvitz
Miles & Stockbridge
Tysons

Thomas C. Inglima
Willcox Savage
Norfolk

Kristen R. Jurjevich
Pender & Coward
Virginia Beach

Meagan J. Kalantar
Williams Mullen
Virginia Beach

Roger Neal Keesee Jr.
Woods Rogers
Roanoke

Ray W. King
Woods Rogers
Norfolk

Alton L. Knighton Jr.
Woods Rogers
Roanoke

David W. Kuhnsman
Protorae Law
Tysons

David M. Lay
Williams Mullen
Richmond

Andrew M. Lohmann
Hirschler
Richmond

Edward B. Lumpkin
Spotts Fain
Richmond

Daniel P. Lyon
McCandlish Lillard
Leesburg

Lamont D. Maddox
Guidance Law Firm
Norfolk

Vincent J. Mastracco Jr.
Kaufman & Canoles
Norfolk

John M. McCormick
McCormick Law & Consulting
Norfolk

Gabriel L. McCoy
Williams Mullen
Norfolk

Timothy J. McEvoy
Cameron/McEvoy
Fairfax

Charles Vincent McPhillips
Kaufman & Canoles
Norfolk

John A. McWilliams
Reed Smith
McLean

David Meyers
Troutman Pepper
Richmond

G. Wythe Michael
Gentry Locke Attorneys
Richmond

Nicholas A. Mirra
Woods Rogers
Roanoke

Gregory J. Montero
Inman & Strickler
Virginia Beach

John P. O’Malley
Williams Mullen
Richmond

John M. Paris
Williams Mullen
Virginia Beach

Laurence V. Parker
Williams Mullen
Richmond

Eric C. Perkins
Perkins Law
Glen Allen

Nathaniel R. Pierce
Pierce Jewett
Norfolk

Michael D. Pierce
O’Hagan Meyer
Richmond

Brian R. Pitney
Sands Anderson
Richmond

Albert Poole
Poole Brooke Plumlee
Virginia Beach

Todd J. Preti
Midgett Preti Olansen
Virginia Beach

Brian C. Purcell
Willcox Savage
Norfolk

Jon Puvak
Gentry Locke Attorneys
Roanoke

Thomas F. Quinn
Odin Feldman & Pittleman
Reston

Alfred Magill Randolph Jr.
Kaufman & Canoles
Norfolk

Jeffrey L. Rhodes
McInroy, Rigby & Rhodes
Arlington County

Laura Rixey
Kaufman & Canoles
Virginia Beach

William Quinton Robinson
Blankingship & Keith
Fairfax

John M. Scheib
Gentry Locke Attorneys
Norfolk

John C. Selbach
Whiteford, Taylor & Preston
Richmond

Conway H. Sheild III
Jones, Blechman, Woltz & Kelly
Newport News

Roderick W. Simmons
Hirschler
Richmond

Colin Frederic Smith
The Law Firm of Colin F. Smith
Manassas

George P. Snead
Parrish Snead Franklin Simpson
Fredericksburg

Eric J. Sorenson Jr.
Woods Rogers
Lynchburg

John (Mac) Stuckey
CarMax Enterprise Services
Richmond

William Tew
Willcox Savage
Norfolk

William R. Van Buren III
Kaufman & Canoles
Norfolk

Autumn R. Visser
Woods Rogers
Roanoke

Mark C. Watson
Hancock Daniel
Richmond

J. Britton Williston
Kaufman & Canoles
Norfolk

Read all of the 2024 Virginia Legal Elite here.

Legal Elite 2023: Business Law Q&A

Title: Managing partner

Other legal specialties: Corporate law

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Loyola University Chicago; master’s in American history, University of Maryland; law degree, University of Richmond

Family: In July, I became a grandmother! Husband, Kenny Cossaboon; daughter Annie, spouse, Josh, and grandson James; daughter Sydney; daughter Abby and spouse, Clay; son Joe and spouse, Casie; son Kevin.

Career mentors: Kenny Cossaboon has helped me learn to be a CEO. Claire Guthrie Gastañaga taught me how to listen and helped me understand that I’m not in this alone. Dale Mullen believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. Heather Hormel Miller eased the loneliness I felt while practicing solo during DL’s early years and helped me keep going. Peri Pardo makes me want to be the person she thinks I am.

Fan of: After years of dreaming, in 2020, Kenny and I bought 163 acres of raw land in West Virginia’s Potomac Highlands, 30 minutes north of Monterey. We live there about 50% of the time in a 240-square-foot “shabin” and work out of Dunlap Law’s Monterey office. We’re working with architect Mark Spangler on the design of our retirement home, which will nestle into the landscape and capture the western views over the Allegheny Mountains.

Your firm specializes in serving small businesses. Why did you choose that niche? In 2015, when I left McGuireWoods and started Dunlap Law, I tried several different practice areas, but I kept coming back to small business and corporate law. It is a natural fit, thanks to my first career as a high school government teacher. 

One of your firm’s specialties is cannabis law. How are you counseling clients on this, given the current freeze on Virginia’s retail market? There are cannabis-adjacent business opportunities for savvy entrepreneurs, and every business needs to have its fundamentals buttoned up.

Check out the rest of the 2023 Legal Elite. 

Richard Cullen to become Youngkin’s counselor

Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin has selected former Virginia Attorney General Richard Cullen as counselor to the governor.

A senior partner and former chairman of McGuireWoods, Cullen will leave Virginia’s largest firm on Jan. 14, the day before Youngkin is sworn in.

Cullen joined McGuireWoods in 1977. From 1991 to 1994, he served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and from 1997 to 1998, as Virginia attorney general.

“When I have felt the pull of public service, McGuireWoods encouraged me to answer that call, past and present,” Cullen said in a statement. “That is one of the reasons the firm has been my home for so many years. Although I am leaving, McGuireWoods and everyone here will always be family to me.”

In his tenure specializing in government investigations and white collar defense, Cullen has represented prominent figures, including former Vice President Mike Pence in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Cullen also led a McGuireWoods team that sued North Korea, winning a $501 million judgment in December 2018 for the parents of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who died of injuries suffered in a North Korean prison.

Cullen was one of the attorneys advising Virginia Military Institute during a state-ordered investigation into systemic racism at the college, but VMI switched firms in early 2021. Cullen has also represented The Boeing Co. in connection with a federal investigation into crashes of two 737 Max airplanes.  Other high profile clients included former FIFA head Sepp Blatter and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, as well as BP America Chairman Lamar McKay, whom Cullen represented in litigation following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill.

Cullen also served on President George W. Bush’s legal team during the 2000 Florida recount. During the Senate select committee’s investigation of the Iran-Contra affair, he served as special counsel to U.S. Sen. Paul Trible, R-Virginia, and during the Watergate investigation, Cullen was on the staff of U.S. Rep. M. Caldwell Butler, R-Virginia.

As chairman of McGuireWoods from 2006 to 2017, Cullen helped the firm grow from 750 lawyers in 15 offices to more than 1,000 lawyers in 21 offices, and helped open offices in Texas and California, establish McGuireWoods London and establish a presence in Shanghai. Cullen helped birth McGuireWoods Consulting, the firm’s public affairs arm, in 1998.

“Richard’s impact on this firm, the city of Richmond, the commonwealth of Virginia and the country is nothing short of remarkable. We will miss our friend and colleague, but our loss will be to the great benefit of the governor’s office and the people of Virginia,” McGuireWoods Chairman Jonathan Harmon said in a statement.

A graduate of Furman University and the University of Richmond School of Law, Cullen is admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court bar.

2021 BUSINESS LAW Q&A

Steven A. Meade

Patten, Wornom, Hatten & Diamonstein LC, Newport News

Title: Member/partner

Other legal specialties: Commercial real estate

Birthplace: Town of Lebanon in Russell County

Education: Bachelor’s degree, University of Virginia; law degree, William & Mary School of Law

Spouse: Angie Meade

Children: Alex, 28, and Adam, 22

First job as a lawyer: I am very proud that I have been with the same firm since 1992 when I started as a summer law clerk.

Fan of: My family; being from the Appalachian Mountains of Southwestern Virginia; my law firm; the Pittsburgh Steelers; Disturbed (a rock band); and Orson Scott Card (fiction writer)

Recently read book: “Dune,” by Frank Herbert

Favorite vacation spot: Tie: Outer Banks and Southwestern Virginia’s mountains

What will the legal environment look like for businesses following the pandemic? I believe there will be a lot of return to equilibrium but with more options available for remote working. Hopefully there will fewer video conference calls than at the height of COVID, but it may make U.S. businesses more nimble and with a lighter overhead burden.

How has your business changed over the past year? What sectors are creating more work now? My business is certainly more busy than it was before, perhaps more busy than at any time since 2007. I am seeing clients selling all types of businesses, and anything related to commercial real estate is very hot right now. My office-space landlord clients continue to be slow coming out of COVID, but technology-related clients continue to be a growth area.