Falwell Jr. lawsuit targets Prevo, Liberty board members
A legal complaint filed last week by former Liberty University President and Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. alleges that President Emeritus Jerry Prevo and members of Liberty’s executive committee received in excess of $1 million from the university “through a series of questionable self-dealing transactions that have the appearance of kickbacks.” Filed in the U.S. District [&helli[...]
William & Mary law dean becomes of counsel at McGuireWoods
William & Mary Law School Dean A. Benjamin Spencer is consulting for McGuireWoods as a part-time, of counsel attorney, the law firm announced Thursday. Spencer, who is also a trustee professor at the law school, will consult with McGuireWoods lawyers and clients on pending legal matters and work on learning initiatives and client development. “We […]
Chartway Credit Union names chief legal officer
Melissa Stratton Moffa is Chartway Credit Union’s new chief legal officer, the Virginia Beach-based credit union announced Tuesday. Moffa was most recently Tysons-based Pentagon Federal Credit Union’s senior director, associate general counsel and privacy officer. “We are thrilled to have Melissa on board. Her experience in mergers and acquisitions and her background working at a[...]
Keeping their own counsel
Of the 1.3 million attorneys practicing in the United States — more than 35,500 of them licensed to practice in Virginia — the American Bar Association reports that more than half are based at law firms, while only about 10% serve as in-house general counsels. That disparity is not because general counsel jobs are unwanted […]
Resetting the bar
Two venerable Virginia law firms — Roanoke‘s Woods Rogers PLC and Norfolk‘s Vandeventer Black LLP — combined forces in July 2022, creating the state’s fifth largest firm, Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black PLC, based in Roanoke. It’s a true statewide firm, with branch offices in Norfolk, Richmond, Lynchburg and Charlottesville, in addition to locations in Kitty […]
VICTOR CARDWELL
Hall of Fame member A former University of Virginia defensive back and high school athlete from Lynchburg, Cardwell has built a career in labor law. After graduating from Washington & Lee University School of Law, he worked at the Department of Labor’s Benefits Review Board before joining Woods Rogers, the Roanoke-based law firm (now Woods […]
Smart growth
As Gentry Locke Attorneys prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday in 2023, the venerable Roanoke law firm isn’t slowing down — it’s accelerating. The firm hung out its shingle in 1923 and spent its first 40 years as a regional specialist representing insurance companies before adding corporate and business work in the 1970s and ’80s. […]
Lawyers aim to lower barriers to legal advice for startups
It takes a lot to start a business — a marketable idea, available capital and good advice, among other resources. Tricia Dunlap puts legal guidance in the same bucket. A former history teacher who became a lawyer in her 40s, Dunlap started her own Richmond-based law firm, Dunlap Law PLC, in 2015 to help “un-lawyered […]
Former commerce secretary returns to Williams Mullen
Former Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball is returning to his former law firm, Williams Mullen. Ball rejoined Williams Mullen on Oct. 10 as of counsel in its corporate section, supporting and serving the firm’s Economic Development Team and aiding clients with business expansion needs. He’ll be based in the firm’s Richmond office. […]
Virginia State Bar names new exec director/COO
The former deputy executive director of the Virginia State Bar has been promoted to lead the organization responsible for the licensing of more than 50,000 lawyers in the commonwealth. Cameron M. Rountree’s appointment to the state bar’s executive director and chief operating officer was approved by the Supreme Court of Virginia on Sept. 8. He […]
Hitting home
“The stereotypical view is that every young lawyer wants to work from home,” unlike their older peers, observes Victor O. Cardwell, principal and chairman of Roanoke-based Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black PLC. Indeed, 51% of baby boomer attorneys report being eager or very eager to get back to the office, but just 22% of their millennial […]