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Judge Payne says “Hire Local Counsel in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia”



The Virginia Lawyers Weekly blog has an excellent post today on the importance of local counsel in the Rocket Docket.  

Indeed, lawyers outside the rocket docket are often unfamiliar with the speed and intensity of litigation in the E.D.Va., and little things–like the fact that a lawyer has to begin preparing trial exhibits during discovery, and exchange trial exhibits just days after the close of discovery–often throw lawyers for a loop. 

I also agree that local counsel should be involved in the drafting of the pleadings–as the complaint and answer frame the rest of the litigation, litigants must prepare those filings with the nature of litigation in this district in mind. 

The comments from Judge Payne were part of a CLE seminar sponsored by the Richmond Bar Association.