FACULTY
Stephen W. Robinson, McGuireWoods / Tysons Corner
Stephen W. Robinson is a partner in the McLean Office of the law firm of McGuireWoods LLP. His practice is primarily labor and employment law, with an emphasis on litigation. He also represents approximately forty professional athletes, including former Masters champion Fred Couples, long jumper Mike Powell (the current world record holder) and double gold medal winning sprinter Michael Johnson.
Mr. Robinson received his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Washington and Lee University. In 1979, he received an L.L.M. (Labor Law) from the George Washington University. From 1976 through 1979 he served at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland as a captain in the Judge Advocate General Corps of the United States Army.
His practice includes advising employers on all aspects of employment and labor relations matters, and he has litigated cases involving discrimination, wrongful discharge, claims for pension and profit sharing benefits, ERISA, defamation, negligent hiring and supervision, First Amendment issues, and covenants not to compete. He is a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Judicial Conference. He is a court appointed mediator in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and served for several years on the Firm’s Executive Committee. He has been selected several times as one of "Virginia's Legal Elite" in a survey of lawyers by Virginia Business magazine, and been named as one of “The Best Lawyers in America,” and a “Super Lawyer” in both Virginia and the District of Columbia for many years. He has also been listed in Chambers USA’s America’s Leading Lawyers for Business for over a decade, and Who’sWhoLegal: USA: Management, Labor and Employment, 2004-2015. The Washington Business Journal and Washingtonian magazine have selected him several times as one of the 40 “Best Lawyers in Washington”. In 2007 he was named the best “Employment Litigator” in Washington by The Washington Business Journal. Lawdragon Magazine has selected him as one of “The 3000 Best Lawyers in America.”
James B. Thorsen, Marchant Thorsen Honey Baldwin & Meyer / Richmond
James B. Thorsen is a partner with Thorsen Hart & Allen, LLP in the City of Richmond, where his practice is focused on employer/employee relations, civil rights, personal injury, defamation, malicious prosecution and other complex civil litigation in both state and federal courts. He has lectured at numerous legal CLE’s in the Commonwealth over the past years and is a member of the Virginia Trail Lawyers Associations and the Virginia Bar Association. Mr. Thorsen previously served as member of the Richmond Bar Association‘s Judiciary Committee, and is a former president of Downtown Richmond, Inc. and the Old and Historic Broad Street Association, as a board member for The Society for the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community and the Fan District Association. More recently Mr. Thorsen served as a director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Foundation and Real Estate Foundation. Mr. Thorsen has been recognized multiple years by Virginia Business magazine’s Legal Elite, as a Virginia Super Lawyer as well as being listed in the Best Lawyers in America. Mr. Thorsen was recently appointed in February 2014 as a General District substitute judge by the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of the City Richmond. Mr. Thorsen received his B. A. from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1974 and a J.D. from the University of Richmond School of Law in 1978.
MODERATOR AND CHAIR of the Program Planning Committee
David Paxton, Gentry Locke / Roanoke
W. David Paxton is a partner with Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore LLP. He represents and advises businesses, non-profits, directors, officers, and executives in the areas of labor & employment law and complex litigation. He is the Chair of Gentry Locke’s labor and employment practice, is a frequent guest speaker at national and regional employment law seminars, and has been included in "Best Lawyers in America" for Labor & Employment for the past 16 years. Prior to joining Gentry Locke, David was a Navy JAG officer who served at the NLSO on Guam and in NAMARA in DC. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia and his BA from Hampden-Sydney College.