Firing Clients: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do (But Sometimes Necessary!)

A pre-recorded streaming VIDEO replay of the June 2025 webcast, Firing Clients: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do (But Sometimes Necessary!).

Not every client relationship is meant to last. Barry Waldman and Bruce Russell offer practical advice on ethically and professionally disengaging from difficult clients. Learn how to spot red flags early, manage risks, avoid ethical pitfalls, and execute client terminations with confidence while protecting your practice and professional reputation.

• Receive advice on how to ethically and professionally disengage from difficult clients.
• Learn how to spot red flags early, manage risks, and avoid ethical pitfalls.
• Execute client terminations with confidence while protecting your practice and professional reputation.

Bruce H. Russell, II, Bruce H. Russell, II, PC / Lebanon

Bruce H. Russell, II, has practiced law for more than twenty years, mainly in the courts of his native Southwest Virginia.  In that time, he been a prosecutor, law professor, member of a small firm, and solo practitioner, and is proud of his service to his Commonwealth and community in each of these roles. 

Currently, Mr. Russell has a large and diverse general practice, and represents both individuals and businesses in numerous matters, from business formation to contract disputes and beyond. In recognition of his extensive and continuing service to the bench, bar, and public, he was named the 2023 Virginia State Bar Local Bar Leader of the Year.

Mr. Russell graduated from Richlands High School, the University of Virginia (where he served on the Honor Committee and its Executive Committee as Chairman of the Bad Check Committee), and the University of Richmond’s T.C. Williams School of Law.  He began his legal career in Charlottesville at the turn of the century with the boutique firm of Thompson & Hagy, focusing on representing small high-tech companies, primarily start-ups. He soon returned to the hills of his youth in Southwest Virginia, pursuing an opportunity to join the Buchanan County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office as that office’s only full-time assistant. While there, he prosecuted everything from murder to the theft of fighting roosters. Shortly after arriving in Grundy, the Appalachian School of Law brought him onboard as an adjunct faculty member at the then-fledgling school.

Returning to private practice in 2003, Mr. Russell joined the law firm of Bolling & Hearl (eventually Bolling Hearl Russell), working out of Abingdon and Richlands, plus parts in-between. He established his own firm in 2009, sharing space in Lebanon with the Hall-of-Fame attorney Steve Quillen. Currently, Mr. Russell serves as President of the Russell County Bar, the 28th Circuit Criminal Defense Bar, and the Patrick Henry American Inn of Court. He is also Chairman of the Southwest Virginia Law Foundation and serves on the Board of Southwest Virginia Legal Aid. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar Council, as well as that body’s Executive Committee.  Additionally, he serves on the VSB Special Committee on Bench-Bar Relations and is a faculty member of the Harry L. Carrico Professionalism Course. He is a member of the Boyd-Graves Conference.

Mr. Russell has been named a Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation, and a Virginia Lawyers Weekly Leader in the Law. He is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell.

Barry J. Waldman, Waldman & Associates PLLC / Fredericksburg

Barry J. Waldman is the Member-Owner of Waldman & Associates, PLLC in Fredericksburg, VA.  Waldman & Associates is celebrating its 20^th year in 2025.

Mr. Waldman earned his B.A. in History and Urban Planning from the University of Virginia and a Juris Doctor from the University of Richmond. An active member of the Bar and his community, he has served his community in various capacities, including Chairman of the Architectural Review Board of the City of Fredericksburg, Member of the Board of Zoning Appeals for the City of Fredericksburg, Chairman of the Leadership Fredericksburg Advisory/Governing Board, Member of the Board of Directors of Rappahannock Goodwill Industries, Inc., and a Member of the Board of Directors of the King George County Chamber of Commerce.

In service of his profession, Mr. Waldman has served as Chairman of the Commission on Children and the Law, President of the 15^th Judicial Circuit Bar Association, and Member of the Board of Directors of the Family Law Section of the Virginia State Bar. He has been a frequent lecturer on Family Law and Ethics subjects for Continuing Legal Education seminars over the last 5 years.

Mr. Waldman has been named a Super Lawyer in the area of Family Law and maintains an AV rating with Martindale-Hubbell.