Litigation in Virginia: Civil and Criminal

Michael G. Matheson, co-author of Chapter 3, is a civil litigation attorney whose practice emphasizes claims involving business disputes, real estate and land use, civil rights, commercial law, and construction law. Mr. Matheson received a B.S. in Economics from Virginia Commonwealth University and, in 2011, earned his J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Richmond’s T.C. Williams School of Law. As a law student, Mr. Matheson served as the Executive Editor of the Richmond Law Review, Vol. 46. He is a member of the Order of the Coif and the McNeil Law Society. In 2010, Mr. Matheson was a student clerk for the Hon. James R. Spencer (Ret.) of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Upon graduation, he served as judicial law clerk for the Hon. Michael C. Allen (Ret.) of the Circuit Court for Chesterfield County. Mr. Matheson currently serves as President-Elect of the Chesterfield County Bar Association.

Stephen A. Mutnick, co-author of Chapter 3, practices primarily in the areas of criminal and traffic defense and also acts as a guardian ad litem. Mr. Mutnick regularly defends those accused of crimes, ranging from speeding to murder, in the counties of Chesterfield, Henrico, and Hanover, and in the City of Richmond and other jurisdictions in central Virginia. He is certified as court-appointed counsel for both adults and juveniles in misdemeanor and felony cases and as a guardian ad litem for juveniles. He also regularly appears as counsel and as guardian ad litem for juveniles in delinquency cases.

Mr. Mutnick has been a speaker for Virginia CLE since 2013 and has lectured in the areas of the DUI defense, Serious Traffic Offenses, and Juvenile Criminal Law. In 2016, Mr. Mutnick created and was lead faculty in the seminar Representing the Criminal Juvenile Defendant: Navigating the Juvenile Justice System. He also has taught at the Commonwealth Attorney’s Services Council Spring Institute, the Virginia State Police Academy, and the Henrico Police Academy.

During the General Assembly session, Mr. Mutnick serves as Counsel to the House of Delegates’ Courts of Justice Committee, where he advises the members of the General Assembly on important issues in criminal law. In 2016, he was appointed to a two-year term as a member of the Chesterfield Colonial Heights Community Criminal Justice Board, in which capacity he assists county leaders in developing criminal justice policy.

Mr. Mutnick joined the firm of Winslow & McCurry in 2013 after serving as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for approximately six years. He was an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney in Loudoun County for two years, before serving as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney in Henrico County until 2013.

Born and raised in Burke, Virginia, Mr. Mutnick attended the College of William and Mary with a major in Public Policy. After college, he attended the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond, where he was awarded the trial advocacy award upon graduation from the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Mutnick lives with his wife and two dogs in the Richmond area.

Rhonda Quagliana, co-author of Chapter 3, earned a B.A. in 1984 from Tulane University and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia in 1992 before earning a J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1995. She is a partner with St. John, Bowling, Lawrence & Quagliana, LLP, a litigation and business transaction firm that represents clients in state and federal courts in a variety of matters. Her general litigation practice focuses on complex civil and criminal cases. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Virginia School of Law, where she teaches trial advocacy and Federal Criminal Pretrial and Trial Practice. Ms. Quagliana serves as a substitute judge in the General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts of the Sixteenth Judicial District. She has contributed her efforts to a number of law-related organizations, including as president of the Charlottesville/Albemarle Bar Association, the Indigent Defense Commission’s Capital Qualification Standards Committee, and the Local Rules Committee for the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Ms. Quagliana has lectured and written on a variety of topics, including Title IX disciplinary matters; the effective use of voir dire in criminal trials; litigating death penalty cases; the importance of pro bono efforts by attorneys in their communities; and the recovery of damages in Virginia courts. Ms. Quagliana has also served on community boards and nonprofit organizations, including the Region Ten Local Human Rights Committee and the Charlottesville/Albemarle SPCA.

Mark E. Rubin, co-author of Chapter 3, is an attorney and a certified mediator for the McCammon Group. Mr. Rubin is also the executive director of the Virginia Center for Consensus Building and the former executive director for the Office of Government Relations for Virginia Commonwealth University and for the university’s Health System. His ADR experience covers a broad range of areas, including professional malpractice, personal injury, securities, employment, and general commercial matters.

Mr. Rubin is a Fellow in the Virginia Law Foundation and a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Virginia Trial Lawyers Foundation. He is also a former chairperson of the Virginia State Bar/Virginia Bar Association Joint Committee on Dispute Resolution. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina and his J.D. from The University of Virginia School of Law.