Several VBA members have made the news of late. Here is a summary of some of their stories.

Leaders in the Law and Up & Coming Lawyers

This week, 10 VBA members were honored as Leaders in the Law for 2023, by Virginia Lawyers Weekly. Additionally, five VBA members were among those named to the publication's 2023 class of Up & Coming Lawyers.

The members in Leaders in the Law are:

• John D. Adams with McGuireWoods in Richmond,
• Carla D. Brown with Charlson Bredehoft Cohen Brown & Nadelhaft in Reston,
• David L. Dallas Jr. with Williams Mullen in Charlottesville,
• Jeffrey A. Hunn with Pender & Coward in Virginia Beach,
• Benjamin D. Leigh with Troxell Leigh in Leesburg,
• Isaac A. McBeth with Halperin Law Center in Richmond,
• Robert M. Rolfe with Hunton Andrews Kurth,
• John M. Scheib with Gentry Locke Attorneys in Norfolk,
• Daniel C. Summerlin with Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black in Roanoke, and
• Carolyn A. White with ThompsonMcMullan in Richmond.

The member in Up & Coming Lawyers are:

• P. Thomas DiStanislao with Butler Snow in Richmond,
• Alicha M. Grubb with Gentry Locke Attorneys in Roanoke,
• Clay S. Hester with Spotts Fain in Richmond,
• Monica Munin with Vanderpool, Frostick & Nishanian in Manassas, and
• Amanda M. Weaver with Williams Mullen in Richmond.

 

Judge Gibney receives professionalism award

Senior Judge John Gibney Jr. is the recipient of the American Inns of Court Professionalism Award. He serves on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

He was nominated by the Lewis F. Powell Jr. American Inn of Court and his nomination had the backing of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine.

The American Inns of Court includes nearly 30,000 federal, state, and local judges; lawyers; law professors; and law students in more than 360 chapters nationwide.

Read more about this honor.

 

VSB Young Lawyer of the Year: Alicia Penn

Alicia Penn received the 2023 R. Edwin Burnette Jr. Young Lawyer of the Year Award from the Virginia State Bar Young Lawyers Conference. She is with McGuireWoods in Richmond. The award recognizes dedicated service to the Young Lawyers Conference, the legal profession and the community.

Read the VSB announcement.

 

William Shmidheiser receives pro bono honors

This month, William E. Shmidheiser III was presented with the 2023 Lewis F. Powell Jr. Pro Bono Award from the Access to Legal Services Committee of the Virginia State Bar. The award honors attorneys who have made outstanding pro bono contributions.
Shmidheiser, of Harrisonburg, recently retired from Flora Pettit, according to the VSB.

In their nomination, VBA member John E. Whitfield and a colleague with Blue Ridge Legal Services said, "Over the last 40 years he has taken pro bono referrals faithfully, and he has consistently provided ‘top-drawer’ legal assistance to the lucky clients who were referred to him." They said Shmidheiser's first pro bono case with Blue Ridge Legal Services was in 1982, and since 1990, when BRLS started keeping computerized records, Shmidheiser has handled 27 often lengthy, frequently difficult cases, according to the VSB.

Read the full announcement.

 

Casey gets gubernatorial appointment

Deborah Mancoll Casey with Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black in Norfolk has been appointed to the Common Interest Community Board by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. A VBA member since 1988, she is a principle of the firm and chair of its community associations team.

See the firm's announcement.

State law librarian Gail Warren is retiring

Gail Warren, a VBA member since 2019, will retire as librarian at the State Law Library Nov. 1. She's served since 1982 and is the sixth person to fill that role since it was created in 1902.

The justices of the Supreme Court of Virginia have named as her successor Alexis Fetzer Sharp.

Read the court's news release.

 

In memoriam: Judge Stephen A. Hudgins

Retired General District Judge Stephen A. Hudgins of Poquoson died Sept. 19 at age 68.

He was an attorney in Hampton Roads for more than 30 years before taking the bench in Virginia's 9th Judicial District. He served as a judge for 10 years until his retirement this past spring.

Judge Hudgins attended the University of Richmond and graduated from the T.C. Williams School of Law in 1980. He became a VBA member in 2004.

Read the full obituary.