Time for another patented rant. When talking to your clients, you always need to be careful with the words you choose, of course. But this rant is about a particular phrase that I think attorneys use too often when speaking to clients which leads to much confusion...
The SoapBox
Politicians Should Govern First and Play Politics Second (or Never)
Time for another patented rant. There have been a number of news stories dealing with Virginia politics and politicians that have raised my hackles lately. [Ed. Note: the phrase "raise my hackles" refers to hairs or a ruff of fur on the back of an animal’s neck that...
There is an Easy Fix to the AG’s Complaint About Staffing Issue
In the Virginia Mercury today, Ned Oliver reports that Attorney General Jason Miyares wants 75 new positions to handle an "unexpected" upturn in criminal appeals to the Court of Appeals under the appeal of right law. Under the new law, the AG's office represents the...
Some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you
Elwin Charles "Preacher" Roe was a baseball player from Ash Flat, Arkansas. His major league career spanned 16 years in the mid-20th century, excepting a few years in the middle when he served is the armed forces during the Second World War and, though he was a five...
Why Defunding NASA would be Bad for the Economy
Time for another rant. Yesterday, NASA announced that it was having to delay its first test mission for the planned return to the moon. On social media and news comment threads, the comments were mostly negative, with many calling for NASA to be defunded as a "waste...
Will the Virginia Supreme Court be Idle for Most of this Year?
In hopefully what is not a sign of things to come, the first month of the New Year passed without a single granted appeal from the Supreme Court of Virginia. This is not unusual. Last year the court did not grant an appeal until February 9, and that was the only...
Of Debtors’ Prison and Appellate Procedure
Today is opinion day for the Supreme Court of Virginia, and while I typically will read the opinions from the east side of Ninth Street, I leave the commentary to the sage of Virginia Beach, Steve Emmert. However, as he concluded his analysis of the Court's sole...
Why the United States is not Becoming a (insert demonized political theory here) State
Have you noticed that, according to their critics, American politicians are concurrently Nazis (imposing vaccine mandates/separating immigrant families), Socialists (expanding Medicaid/favoring specific industries), Communists (Infrastructure spending/umm . . . no...
An Award You Have to Pay For is Advertising; Advertising You Have to Pay For and Provide Prospects is a Scam
So today I received my very first "vanity award" notification. If you are not familiar with the term "vanity award," its basically advertising in the form of a notification that you have been nominated or selected or are under consideration for a prestigious award...
Judge Leaving the Courtroom was a Reasonable Response to an Unreasonable Situation
For the media report of this story, see The Roanoke Times. My view of this incident is a little different -- Judge Dillion had ruled and told the attorney to move on, but he persisted, she ruled again, but he persisted, she then told him to make his proffer (which...