Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Ghislaine Storr Burks is the lead criminal defense lawyer at Livesay & Myers. She represents clients in Woodbridge, Manassas, Stafford, Fairfax, Alexandria, Arlington, Spotsylvania and Fredericksburg, Virginia.

An experienced, hard-working attorney, Ms. Storr Burks believes the building block for success in every trial is rigorous preparation. She believes in doing the hard work before trial necessary to give you the best chance to win in court.

As a law firm, Livesay & Myers, P.C. believes in maintaining a proper client-to-attorney ratio, so that each of our defense attorneys have sufficient time to devote to each case. This policy translates to the best chance of success for each client.

Jennifer Varughese is the lead immigration law attorney at Livesay & Myers. A member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Ms. Varughese's immigration law practice covers both family-based and employment-based cases, including nonimmigrant visas, green cards, "adjustment of status" for those already present in the country, citizenship, and deportation cases.

Ms. Varughese has argued twice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in cases that became published opinions: Hussain v. Gonzales, 477 F.3d 153 (4th Cir. 2007) and Markovski v. Gonzales, 486 F.3d 108 (4th Cir. 2007).

Ms. Varughese represents clients in Woodbridge, Manassas, Stafford, Alexandria, Arlington, Fredericksburg, Richmond, Fairfax and all of Northern Virginia, as well as throughout Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Cherish Hadley-Njewel is a family law attorney at Livesay & Myers, P.C.

An experienced, hard-working attorney, Ms. Hadley-Njewel believes the building block for success in every trial is rigorous preparation. She believes in doing the hard work before trial necessary to give you the best chance to win in court.

As a law firm, Livesay & Myers, P.C. believes in maintaining a proper client-to-attorney ratio, so that each of our defense attorneys have sufficient time to devote to each case. This policy translates to the best chance of success for each client.

Katie Mucklow Lehman is a family law attorney and criminal defense lawyer at Livesay & Myers, P.C. She represents clients in Woodbridge, Manassas, Stafford, Alexandria, Arlington, Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg and Fairfax, Virginia.

An experienced, hard-working attorney, Ms. Mucklow Lehman believes the building block for success in every trial is rigorous preparation. She believes in doing the hard work before trial necessary to give you the best chance to win in court.

As a law firm, Livesay & Myers, P.C. believes in maintaining a proper client-to-attorney ratio, so that each of our defense attorneys have sufficient time to devote to each case. This policy translates to the best chance of success for each client.

Mr. Carwile began the practice of law as the first Executive Director of the Lynchburg Legal Aid Society. He moved to Waynesboro in 1974 and co-founded the firm of Carwile & Ricketts, P.C., which merged with Carter R. Allen, R. Toms Dalton and G. William Watkins in 1987 to form the present professional corporation, Allen & Carwile, P.C.

Mr. Carwile's practice focuses primarily on criminal defense representation and he is a frequent lecturer on various legal topics, having spoken for the Virginia CLE on the defense of DUI and other serious traffic cases. He has also written extensively on many aspects of criminal defense law. Mr. Carwile currently serves as a member of the Mandatory Legal Education Committee appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court.

Lee R. Taylor holds a B.A. in Psychology from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and his J.D. law degree from the Mercer University School of Law. While still in law school, he had already started his career in the legal profession as part of the university's third-year practice program. Taylor has considerable experience on both sides of the courtroom: Before moving into a private practice that involves both civil litigation and criminal defense cases, he had served as an assistant district attorney for Dalton, GA; as city attorney for the city of Ellijay, GA, and as county attorney for Gilmer County, GA during the 1990s, a time of transition for the county from rural Appalachian community to suburb of the greater Atlanta metropolitan region.

He went on to serve as Special Assistant Attorney General for the state Department of Transportation and also for the state Department of Human Resources and dealing with rights-of-way cases, title transfers and condemnation litigation for the former, with cases for the Division of Family and Children Services for the latter.

Taylor is a certified mediator who has worked in general and domestic relations dispute resolution. In Ellijay, he was an active member of the United Methodist Church. In other parts of his life, he can boast extensive experience in the creation of stoneware pottery, stemming from his family's pottery business. An active member of the Lexington Baptist Church, he resides with his wife, Rebecca, on a family farm in Rockbridge County, where Taylor says the current crop is horses. The Taylors have four children.

After over 34 years of patent examining, I have retired from the US Patent Office in February of 2007, and have been pursuing related work in the private sector.

I have a Bachelors of Science (1970) and Masters of Science (1972) degrees from Penn State University in Aerospace Engineering.

My primary area of expertise is in the aeronautics and space art. Due to the complex nature of this art, it requires knowledge of many other mechanical and electrical areas of the USPTO. As a patent examiner, I have examined over 5000 patent applications, issued over 3500 patents in the aircraft art and reviewed and responded to over 10,000 application amendments. While at the USPTO I was formally recognized as an Expert in the Aerospace art by a specially appointed review board at the USPTO. Part of this Expert review process required recognition by at least two members of the Patent Office Board of Appeals as to my ability to not only understand the technology but also to properly apply the Patent Laws to such technology and to the patentability of the claimed invention. As a result of this experience I have developed a very detailed knowledge of the majority of the patents in the field of aeronautics and space. I have had details to Quality Review, the Assistant Commissioner of Patents (when the USPTO was involved in fraud questions of patent prosecution), and multiple teaching details to the Patent Examining Academy. I have trained other examiners informally in the art units that I have worked in, as well as through the Patent Examining Academy. My qualification should meet any courts requirements as an expert witness in the Aerospace technology.

Since my retirement in February of 2007, I have worked with a group in assisting them in the start up of a contract operation for the USPTO to classify Pre Grant Patent Applications. My duties with this start up endeavor included assisting in training of the employees in patent classification and search skills. I was also a -trouble shooter- that determined the proper routing of difficult to classify inventions from all technologies of the USPTO. These duties enabled me to broaden my level of understanding to all technology areas of the USPTO. Other duties included researching and looking into other companies in the patent field, who were developing software related to patent searching and the automated classification tools for patents and other documents. I was also charged with reviewing the Quality feedback from the USPTO as it applied to the classifications that were sent to them.

I have also worked for Boeing in reviewing patent applications that outside counsel had drafted to assure that they were technically accurate and that the claims were proper and covered all the essential areas of the invention. Often during this time I received feedback from numerous patent lawyers dealing with USPTO office actions and other actions of the USPTO. With this background and 34+ years as an examiner, I could be of great assistance in dealing with issues that may come up during the prosecution of an application before the USPTO.

In March of 2007, I joined a select team of technological experts, and founded the Patent Project Group ( http://www.patentprojectgroup.com/ ). During the development of this company I have had the occasion to network with several patent search companies and other e-commerce companies. I have used my expert knowledge in the aeronautics area to assist in the evaluation of several automated patent search engines. I have also been involved with James Madison University in Virginia in helping with areas of their developing Technology Transfer department. During this time I have had the opportunity to interact with numerous inventors and see some of their frustrations and wonders with the operation of the USPTO. I have also approached Penn State University and am pursuing the concept of using Patents as a research tool in the area of Academic research in the Aerospace area. I have also done numerous patent validity searches for various law firms involved in patent infringement suits, all of which were dropped by the patent holders.

You may ask: Why do I need such a person to do a detailed search before filling an application when the USPTO will do a search? A complete search can avoid a prolonged prosecution in the USPTO. The USPTO has an ever increasing backlog of patent applications and as a result is continually pressuring the examiners for more work and constantly hiring new examiners. This atmosphere increases the chances that your application will be examined by an inexperienced examiner or by one that feels pressured to get your application done quickly. This could result in a first action that applies art that barely meets the broad scope of your initial claims and could totally miss the heart of the invention. This results in years of prosecution with added office actions, re-filings and thousands of dollars in fees and related expenses. A search that develops the best prior art results in a strong patent that will stand up to future scrutiny, and be a more valuable intellectual property. An infringement lawsuit that comes up with better art and invalidates a patent can cost literally millions of dollars after an extended court battle. On the other hand if you find yourself the object of an infringement suit an experienced searcher can save you literally millions of dollars by potentially finding that overlooked reference that will invalidate the patent in question. I also have the background and knowledge to file a proper and affective Accelerated Examination documentation in the aerospace technology.

Lawyer with 29 years of experience (15 in divorce, family law and bankruptcy). Graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law - 1980, and the College of William and Mary - 1977 with a business degree. Practiced limited to the Commonwealth of Virginia in family law, (including divorce, custody, military divorces, CSRS, FERS, TSP, child support and spousal support) and bankruptcy (Chapter 7 and Chapter 13). Provide one-on-one representation in Stafford, Spotysylvania County, City of Fredericksburg, and Prince William County. Admitted to US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Practice solely in Virginia (Inactive member only in California, DC and Maryland).

Roanoke, Virginia, Personal Injury Lawyer:
Ms. Bettina Altizer (Partner) was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. At the ripe age of three, she decided that she wanted to be a lawyer and that desire never waivered. Bettina moved to the Roanoke Valley with her family in 1973 and graduated with high distinction from the University of Virginia in 1985 with a B.A. in American Government. Bettina went on to UVA’s School of Law graduation in 1988. She began practicing with her father, Jack Altizer, in 1991 and they formed the firm of Altizer & Altizer. They practice exclusively in personal injury, with a special emphasis on medical malpractice, auto accidents, and nursing home neglect.

Bettina's winning competitive spirit:
Bettina is also a five-time world champion and American and world record holder in powerlifting. At one time, Bettina was considered the world's strongest drug-free power lifter, pound for pound. She brings the same winning competitive spirit to every case.