The Virginia Law Foundation (VLF) launched our 50th anniversary year last Thursday, January 18, at our annual Fellows Induction in Williamsburg. Gathering legal leaders and supporters of the VLF, this celebratory event recognized 26 citizen lawyers as Fellows and honored their remarkable contributions to the legal profession and their communities. A complete list of the newly inducted Fellows is below, and you can learn more about the new Fellows here.
Nominated confidentially by their peers and selected by the Fellows Committee, Fellows are recognized as community leaders who demonstrate the highest professional standards in their practice. Now in its 40th year, the Fellows program has inducted more than 775 attorneys and judges since its establishment in 1983.
Leading the evening’s festivities were Colleen Marea Quinn, 2024 president of the Virginia Law Foundation, and Margaret A. Nelson, VLF board member and chair of the Fellows Committee. Each Fellow was individually recognized and applauded by guests, and following the ceremony, Justice Cleo E. Powell delivered an inspiring keynote speech that amplified the ideals of the newest Fellows.
Ms. Quinn closed the occasion with special remarks about the past five decades of impact and a champagne toast in honor of the VLF’s anniversary. “Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others?” Over the past 50 years, the VLF has awarded more than $28 million in grants to dozens of organizations projects across Virginia,” said Ms. Quinn. “These grants have supported a range of organizations and projects such as CLEO, which was discussed by Justice Powell as having an impact on her, the Library of Virginia, legal aid organizations, public service internships for students at all eight Virginia law schools, the Virginia State Bar’s Hill-Tucker Pre-Law Institute, and many others. Signature projects include the Nuremburg Courtroom at the Virginia Holocaust Museum and the Supreme Court of Virginia’s Judicial Learning Center.”
“In addition to our philanthropy, Virginia CLE®, the VLF’s education division, has reached new heights under the brilliant leadership of Ray White,” she continued. “Recently voted as the #1 continuing legal education provider by readers of Virginia Lawyers Weekly, Virginia CLE® has expanded its offerings to include Experience Philanthropy programming as well as three unique, engaging institutes: the Constitutional Law Institute, the annual Civil Rights Institute, and the Wellness Institute.”
She also announced that the Virginia Law Foundation will host the Justice Resounding Gala on September 19 at The Jefferson in Richmond and a special Rule of Law event at the Virginia Holocaust Museum on October 16. These signature events add to a full calendar of continued philanthropic initiatives and educational programming through Virginia CLE®.
“The Virginia Law Foundation has soared to great heights over the years as we now build toward our 50th anniversary celebration in September of 2024. However, in no way does this mean we have done so alone,” says Raymond M. White, executive director of the Virginia Law Foundation. “Only with the help of our generous supporters, dedicated faculty, authors, staff, board, and customers, and our public-spirited Fellows have we been able to become a leading educational and philanthropic force for good throughout the state.”
This momentous year welcomes a new slate of officers. In addition to Ms. Quinn, the 2024 board officers include:
- Justice Jane Marum Roush, Immediate Past President
- Stephen E. Noona, President-Elect
- David J. Gogal, Vice President
- Teresa L. Moore, Secretary
- Stacie M. Merriam, Treasurer
The Virginia Law Foundation also welcomes four new board members to begin three-year terms: Alan Anderson, attorney and arbitrator, Darius K. Davenport, managing partner at Crenshaw, Ware & Martin, Robert F. Redmon, partner at McGuireWoods, and Thomas M. Wolf, partner at O’Hagan Meyer. To view the Virginia Law Foundation’s 2024 Board of Directors, please visit this page.
In this anniversary year, the Virginia Law Foundation will continue our annual initiatives, including our grants program, which distributed more than $700,000 in grants in 2023. Also on the calendar is the third Civil Rights Law Institute on October 10 and 11 at Monticello, which is presented in partnership with The Virginia Bar Association, the Old Dominion Bar Association, and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.
Information on these initiatives and more can be found at virginialawfoundation.org.
Virginia Law Foundation Class of 2024 Fellows:
- Amy Disel Allman, Virginia Legal Aid Society (Chesapeake)
- Peter William Buchbauer, Buchbauer & McGuire, P.C. (Winchester)
- Carole H. Capsalis, Bean, Kinney & Korman (Arlington)
- Henry L. Chambers, Jr., University of Richmond School of Law (Henrico)
- N. Thomas Connally, III, Hogan Lovells US LLP (Tysons)
- Leah A. Darron, Office of the Attorney General of Virginia (Henrico)
- John Dickens Eure, Johnson, Ayers & Matthews PLC (Roanoke)
- G. “Rex” Flynn, Jr., The Flynn Law Firm, PLLC (Arlington)
- Daniel P. Frankl, Frankl Miller Webb & Moyers LLP (Roanoke)
- Philip L. Hatchett, Kaufman & Canoles, PC (Newport News)
- Sr. Justice Donald W. Lemons, Supreme Court of Virginia (Nellysford)
- Peter M. Mellette, Goodman Allen Donnelly (Williamsburg)
- David Meyers, Troutman Pepper (Richmond)
- Sr. Justice William C. Mims, Supreme Court of Virginia (Richmond)
- Wendy C. Perdue, University of Richmond School of Law (Richmond)
- Christine Nguyen Piersall, Williams Mullen (Norfolk)
- Cameron M. Rountree, Virginia State Bar (Richmond)
- Victor S. Skaff, III, Glen Robinson Cathey Memmer & Skaff PLC (Roanoke)
- Stuart D. Spirn, Bartlett & Spirn PLC (Williamsburg)
- Todd Tabor, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (Reston)
- Hon. George D. Varoutsos, Arlington Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court (ret.) (Arlington)
- John D. Whittington, John D. Whittington, PC (Manassas)
- Mary Elizabeth Williams, Williams Compliance & Consulting Group (Beaverdam)
- Professor W. Clark Williams, Jr., University of Richmond School of Law (retired) (Richmond)
- Thomas M. Winn, III, Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black, PLC (Roanoke)
- W. Carter Younger, McGuireWoods (retired) (Richmond)
