News and Updates   

The role of female leaders at The Virginia Bar Association is part of our storied history right up to today, International Women’s Day, when we pause to recognize the VBA’s many female leaders – past presidents, and section, committee and division leaders.

A bill in the General Assembly session to take lawyer discipline away from the Virginia State Bar and move it to a new body, the Virginia Attorney Disciplinary Commission, has failed in committee.

Senate Bill 561 , sponsored by Sen. Chapman Petersen, D-Fairfax, was passed by indefinitely on an 11-4 vote yesterday afternoon.

VBA members often show up on lists of honorees. The 2022 class of Fellows and officers for the Virginia Law Foundation is no exception.

Nominated by their peers, Fellows of the Virginia Law Foundation are recognized for leadership in their practices, their communities and Virginia.

The Virginia Bar Association joined with four other statewide voluntary bars in opposition to a bill proposed in the 2022 General Assembly session, Senate Bill 561. The other bar groups are the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, the Old Dominion Bar Association and the Virginia Women Attorneys Association.

The Virginia Bar Association installed Victor O. Cardwell as its 2022 president Friday, Jan. 21, during its virtual Annual Meeting. He is co-chair of Woods Rogers PLC’s labor and employment practice team as well as chairman of the firm’s board of directors. He is based in Roanoke, Virginia, and is the seventh Woods Rogers attorney to serve as president of the VBA, the largest statewide voluntary bar in Virginia.

I must thank everyone at Woods Rogers for their support – with special mention to the Labor and Employment Group, all of whom have stepped in to make this possible. This is not a surprise to me as my firm and the VBA have a long and storied history together. There have been many who have served the VBA and I will now become the seventh lawyer to serve in this role from WR. I am humbled.

Virginia Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons has announced to the Supreme Court of Virginia that he will step down as chief justice, effective Dec. 31, 2021.

The justices of the court have elected Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn as Lemons’ successor. Chief Justice-elect Goodwyn will assume office on Jan. 1, 2022.

Retired Richmond lawyer George H. Hettrick, a Life Member of The Virginia Bar Association and a tireless advocate for pro bono services, died Nov. 24. He was 81.

Mr. Hettrick earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University in 1962 and his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1965.

Former Gov. A. Linwood Holton Jr., a Life Member of the VBA, has died. He was 98.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, also a former governor of Virginia, tweeted, "I mourn the loss of my father-in-law Linwood Holton. He was my friend and public service role model. His courageous efforts to end racial discrimination in Virginia — born out of deep religious conviction about the equality of all God’s children — made him a moral pillar for so many."

The Hon. W. Tayloe Murphy Jr., a Life Member of the VBA and recipient of the association's highest honor, died Sept. 15, 2021. He was 88.

Mr. Murphy served Virginia as a delegate to the General Assembly and as secretary of natural resources in 2002-2006 under then-Gov. Mark Warner.