Kaufman & Canoles names executive director
Chris Smythe has been named executive director of Kaufman & Canoles, the Norfolk-headquartered law firm announced Monday. In the role, Smythe will oversee the day-to-day operations of the firm and report directly to Jason R. Davis, its president and CEO. Previously, Smythe was president of Tycon Medical Systems, a Norfolk home medical equipment and complex […]
Reed Smith appoints new Richmond office managing partner
Global law firm Reed Smith’s S. Brian Farmer is the new office managing partner in Richmond, the firm announced Thursday. Farmer succeeds Edward Mullen, who is part of the firm’s Richmond-based government relations team that spun off from Reed Smith to create Seven Hills Strategy Group, according to a January news release. Farmer, who previously […]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Rahni N. Jenkins
Jenkins has led the Geller Law Group’s operations and human resources since 2023, but she worked with the firm as a contract consultant beginning in 2020. Before that, Jenkins held leadership roles at the March of Dimes and advised Microsoft and other organizations. She holds DEI credentials from Cornell and is a doctoral candidate at […]
Profits follow culture at Williams Mullen
Williams Mullen is having a good decade. In the past 10 years, the Richmond law firm has seen its annual revenues swell from $106 million to $171 million and its annual profits have risen by 11.2%. What’s more, the firm’s president, CEO and chairman of the board, Calvin W. “Woody” Fowler Jr., is bullish on […]
All eyes on noncompetes
EDITOR’S NOTE: On Aug. 20, a federal judge in Texas ruled against the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on noncompete agreements, which was scheduled to go into effect Sept. 4. In striking down the FTC’s pending rule, U.S. District Judge Ada Brown called it “arbitrary and capricious” and an “unlawful agency action.” An FTC spokesperson said […]
Kaufman & Canoles names Williamsburg managing partner
Dustin H. DeVore has been named managing partner of Kaufman & Canoles’ Williamsburg office, effective May 21, the law firm announced. DeVore joined Kaufman & Canoles in 2002 and chairs the firm’s lender representation practice group and the firm’s credit union team. Outside the firm, he serves on the board of directors of the Greater […]
Woods Rogers returns to original name
Call it a strategy of going back to the future — the merged Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black law firm is shortening its name back to its original appellation of Woods Rogers, executives announced Monday. In 2022, Roanoke-based Woods Rogers merged with Vandeventer Black in Norfolk, creating the state’s fifth largest law firm, with more than […]
Breaking the rules
For lawyers, time has always been money, which has made the billable hour standard practice for the profession since the 1960s. But with the rise of artificial intelligence, which already can cut the time required to complete rote tasks from days or hours down to seconds, a once-inconceivable event just might come to pass — […]
Allen & Allen announces new president
Jason W. Konvicka is succeeding Edward L. Allen as president of Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen, the Richmond-based law firm announced April 11. Konvicka joined the personal injury firm as a trial attorney in 2000 and became a shareholder in 2006. Allen led the firm as president for the past six years and will continue […]
Kaufman & Canoles has new president and CEO
Jason R. Davis became president and CEO of Norfolk-based law firm Kaufman & Canoles on Monday. Davis, who has been with Kaufman & Canoles since 1997, succeeds William R. Van Buren III in his role as president. Van Buren has served as the firm’s president and chairman for 16 years and will remain chairman. “I […]
Former Va. ABC chief joins Hunton Andrews Kurth
Travis Hill, former CEO of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority and former Virginia deputy secretary of agriculture and forestry, has joined Richmond-based law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth, Virginia’s second-largest law firm announced Tuesday. Hill is a counsel for the firm’s Global Economic Development, Commerce and Government Relations Group (GECON), according to a news rel[...]
McGuireWoods names RVA, Norfolk managing partners
McGuireWoods, Virginia’s oldest and largest law firm, has appointed new managing partners in Richmond and Norfolk, the firm announced Friday. Janet Peyton will lead the Richmond office, and Michael Herring, the current Richmond office managing partner, will become chair of the firm’s commercial litigation department in January 2024. Peyton practices intellectual property, data privacy [...]