News, Events, Seminars & Articles by Gentry Locke Attorneys

Ten Gentry Locke attorneys named to 2018 “Legal Elite” list

News December 2018

ROANOKE, Va. (December 1, 2018 ) – The Virginia law firm of Gentry Locke is pleased to announce that ten attorneys have been named “2018 Legal Elite” by Virginia Business magazine. The 2018 Legal Elite list is Virginia Business magazine’s 19th annual report. It is determined by peer votes and is divided into 18 specialties. The Gentry Locke attorneys listed as “Legal Elite” for 2018 are: J. Rudy Austin: Construction Law (Retired in 2018) Thomas J. Bondurant, Jr.: Criminal Law Christen C. Church: Intellectual Property Michael J. Finney: Litigation W. William Gust: Business Law Kevin Walker Holt: Litigation K. Brett Marston: Construction Law Monica […]

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Size No Longer Matters: ADEA Applies to All State and Local Government Employees

Articles November 2018

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that state and local government entities must comply with the Age Discrimination and Employment Act (“ADEA”) even if the entity employs fewer than twenty (20) employees. For the past forty (40) years, lower courts have disagreed on whether the ADEA’s requirement for an employer to have at least twenty (20) employees applied to small local government agencies. Many courts have held that government agencies with less than twenty (20) employees were not covered by the ADEA. This decision issued on November 6, 2018 involves a case brought after a local fire […]

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Employers: Update Your Summary of Rights Form for Background Checks

Articles November 2018

Pursuant to new regulations, employers must disclose additional information to applicants and employees before conducting background checks. In May 2018, Congress enacted the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (the “Act”). The Act requires consumer reporting agencies to provide “national security freezes” to consumers free of charge. The Act also extended the 90-day period to one year for which national consumer reporting agencies must include an initial fraud alert in a consumer’s file. The Act also provides that whenever the Fair Credit Report Act (“FCRA”) requires an entity to provide a consumer with a “Summary of Consumer Rights,” […]

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Gentry Locke earns 2019 ‘Best Law Firms’ honors in 26 practice areas

News November 2018

ROANOKE, Va. (November 1, 2018) – The Virginia law firm of Gentry Locke is pleased to announce its inclusion in the 2019 “Best Law Firms” rankings published by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers®. The firm secured rankings in 26 practice areas, including 18 rankings as Metropolitan Tier 1, which is the highest tier for regional recognition. Metropolitan Tier 1 – Roanoke Antitrust Law Appellate Practice Banking and Finance Law Commercial Litigation Construction Law Corporate Law Employment Law — Individuals Employment Law — Management Financial Services Regulation Law Labor Law — Management Litigation — Construction Litigation — Labor & Employment Medical Malpractice Law — Plaintiffs Personal Injury Litigation — Plaintiffs Product Liability […]

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Gentry Locke Attorneys K. Brett Marston and Daniel R. Sullivan honored by Virginia Lawyers Media

News October 2018

ROANOKE, Va. (October 25, 2018) – The Virginia law firm of Gentry Locke is pleased to announce that Roanoke partner K. Brett Marston was named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly’s 2018 class of “Leaders in the Law” and Roanoke partner Daniel R. Sullivan was named to the publication’s 2018 class of “Up & Coming Lawyers.” All 2018 recipients were formally honored during an awards ceremony on October 25. Now in its 13th year, Virginia Lawyers Weekly’s Leaders in the Law program recognizes attorneys who are setting the standard for other practitioners in Virginia. Leaders are named for changing the law, serving the community, changing practice, or […]

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CLE co-presenter, The Life of an Appeal in the Court of Appeals of Virginia

Events October 2018

On October 18, 2018, Gentry Locke Managing Partner Monica Monday and The Honorable Glen A. Huff, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of Virginia, presented a CLE session to attendees of the Solo & Small-Firm Practitioner Forum held in Wytheville, Virginia. “The Life of an Appeal in the Court of Appeals of Virginia” focused on some of the essentials lawyers need to know to effectively practice in the Court of Appeals of Virginia, including preserving error, filing the appeal, briefing and oral argument, and post-appeal filings and proceedings. The event was presented by the Virginia State Bar’s Conference of Local and Specialty Bar Associations, in […]

Landowners in Virginia fighting for private property rights file Appeal with United States Supreme Court

News October 2018

Orus Ashby Berkley, et al. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, et al. (FERC) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mia Yugo, Yugo@gentrylocke.com, 540.983.9444 Thomas J. Bondurant, Jr., Bondurant@gentrylocke.com, 540.983.9389 ROANOKE, Va. (October 24, 2018): Landowners in Virginia and West Virginia filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court. The Petition seeks to appeal the judgment of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. It seeks reversal by the nation’s highest Court on the lower courts’ subject matter jurisdiction to hear Petitioners’ constitutional challenges. According to Mia Yugo, Gentry Locke attorney for the Landowners, “This case is […]

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Mother’s Day shooting death case settles in Bedford County Circuit Court

Case Studies October 2018

The results of client matters depend on a variety of factors unique to each matter. Past successes do not predict or guarantee future successes.

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff Bedford County Circuit Court On Mother’s Day in 2015, our client learned that her husband had been shot in the back of his head and killed. The shooter was taken into police custody and acknowledged that he had been drinking alcoholic beverages over the last 30 hours and had been burning brush in a barrel, having had little sleep. The shooter alleged that he saw his victim driving too fast and decided to confront the man. The shooter acknowledged a heated confrontation, but he claimed he acted in self-defense and that the victim acted as an aggressor. Specifically, the shooter alleged […]

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Gentry Locke Welcomes Associate Caley A. DeGroote

News October 2018

ROANOKE, Va. (September 30, 2018) – The Virginia law firm of Gentry Locke is pleased to announce that Caley A. DeGroote has joined the firm’s Roanoke office as an associate on the Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice teams, where she will assist with complex litigation matters. Before joining Gentry Locke, Caley researched criminal and civil legal issues in preparation for hearings and trials as a law clerk for the Twenty-third Judicial Circuit Court. Prior to that, she analyzed legal issues and helped create opinions and legal orders as a summer intern for The Honorable J. Michelle Childs at the U.S. District […]

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Legal Alert for Restaurants: Tip Pooling Rules

News September 2018

The laws for restaurants regarding “tip pooling” (and other pay practices) can be complex and confusing. For example, did you know that the almost 900-page Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, which took effect March 23, 2018, contained a passage that also amended the “tip pooling” laws? Moreover, the statutory remedies for a violation of the “tip pooling” laws can be harsh, even for innocent mistakes. In 2018 alone, the following restaurants paid large settlement amounts in Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) wage-hour collective action cases for allegedly violating tip pooling (and other FLSA) laws: Bob Evans ($3 Million); P.F. Chang’s ($2.65 […]

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